Tail of the Sea
by FawnTheFox
Summary: Things are going normally for the Whitebeard crew. Well normally enough. That is until one of their fishing nets traps a baby mermaid who is desperate to get back to his brothers. Now on top of everything Marco has to deal with not only caring for the injured mermaid but finding out what three merkids were doing all alone in the middle of the ocean. Mermaid ASL meet the WB's.
1. Chapter 1

**Long summary: Things are going normally for the Whitebeard crew. Well normally enough. The crew is driving Marco crazy but what else is new. That is until on of their fishing nets traps a baby mermaid who is desperate to get back to his brothers, and his brothers are desperate to get him back as well. Now on top of everything Marco has to deal with not only caring for the injured mermaid but finding out what the three merkids were doing all alone in the middle of the ocean. ASL Mermaids with the Whitebeards.**

 **XXX**

"What's this all about?" Marco asked with a weary sigh. He loved all his brothers but sometimes they were a bit much to deal with.

Thatch grinned over at him, no doubt sensing his thoughts.

"Good going guys you got the attention of the mother bird."

"Why don't you tell the nice bird what you saw," Vista said to Haruta, who seemed to be at the center of the circle of pirates. Unlike the others whose faces were split into teasing grins Haruta looked angry. His face was flushed and he stamped his foot.

"I'm not making this up."

"Sure you're not." Thatch teased.

"I'm NOT!"

"Of course squirt." Teach said.

"What did you see Haruta?" Marco asked hoping to stop the ensuing fight.

Haruta ignored the others playful taunts to fix his attention on Marco. He was still new, their youngest member so far. Usually Whitebeards didn't take on pirates younger then eighteen but Pops had made an acceptation for him. Overzealous to prove himself Haruta took everything far too seriously. He hadn't recognized his siblings jibes as teasing but rather a criticism of his work.

"I was on guard watch this afternoon." I saw something weird in the water so I came down from the crow's nest to get a better look. But when I got to the bow it was gone. I figured it was a weird fish or something and I didn't think anything of it." He paused as Marco raised his eyebrow.

"Tell him the rest!" One of the pirates around him called and the rest broke into giggles.

"I'm getting to it," Haruta snapped but still hesitated as he looked at Marco. Like he was trying to figure out the best way to say this.

"While I was down I figured I should grab some lunch so I got some food from the mess hall and came back to the bow. So I sat there for a bit to eat and I noticed the apple was rotten so I pitched it over the railing…"

"And?" Marco pushed.

"And a little boy popped up out of nowhere, grabbed the apple and then just… disappeared."

Marco's brow furrowed as the circle burst into laughter.

"Somebody give this boy a break," Vista called. "He has been baking in the sun far too long."

Marco watched Haruta's blush grow as he yelled at them. "I know what I saw! There was a little boy in the water. He looked me right in the eyes and grabbed the apple smiled and then went back under. So I went for help but none of this lot believed me."

"Of course we didn't, that's ridiculous. We are in the middle of nowhere. There's not another island for hundreds of miles. And we haven't seen another ship in days. How on earth could there be a kid in the water. And even if there was where is he now huh? Say that there really is a tyke swimming around under the ship, he has to have come up to breath by now. There's nothing but ocean for miles we would have seen him. But nope no boy, no apple and no common sense apparently."

The crew erupted into more laughter and Haruta glared. "I know what I saw."

Marco rubbed his temple. It was time to relieve Haruta. His shift had been a long one.

"Don't you guys have somewhere else to be?" Marco asked the crew.

"Nowhere that's less entertaining than this."

"I beg to differ," Marco told them as the crowed thinned, going back to their various duties, still laughing as they did.

Only Thatch stayed, sitting on the railing contently. Marco gave him a look which he returned with a smile.

"So what now Marco?" He asked. "As the superior it's your job to deal with these things when they are reported to you. So what are you going to do about the boy in the ocean? Should we get a search party out?"

Marco knew his friend wasn't mocking him, well he was a little. He wouldn't be Thatch if he didn't. But he was really asking. It would be unwise to ignore an eyewitness account regardless of how unlikely it was.

Marco turned back to Haruta whose face was tomato red at this point. "I know what I saw!"

"Get some sleep," Marco told him. "That's enough for today."

"I'm not making this up!" He cried.

"I know." Marco agreed. "But you need a break. I'll look into it for now."

Haruta sighed in relief. Glad someone was willing to listen to him.

"What color was the hair?" Marco asked catching the younger pirate by surprise.

"Did the boy have golden hair? Sort of wavy."

Haruta looked surprised. "No? It was black and strait."

Well that wasn't what he expected. "Get some rest kid." Marco told him as he turned away. Thatch followed after him, after making Haruta promise to go get some real food before turning in.

"So you think he's for real then?" He asked his fried and Marco nodded pausing at the bow. "Haruta isn't the lying type." He took his work too seriously for that. "Besides I got a report two days ago saying the same thing. One of the night watches saw a little blondie off the bow, he followed us for a little ways. When the night watchman called out to him he went back under the water. And he never came back up.

"Way to bury the lead." Thatch said glancing out at the open ocean. "So you're saying there are not one but two kids swimming around out there? How is that even possible?"

Marco didn't know. But he intended to find out.

"Tell the night lookout not to bother." Marco told Thatch. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

 **XXX**

"So how is it going?" Thatch asked Marco who was sitting on the railing with a bored expression of his face.

The sun had set hours ago and the ocean was dark. Illuminated only by the ships light and the intense glare of the moon that reflected on the water's surface.

"No sightings of little kids if that's what you mean." Marco told him not bothering to look up as Thatch sat down beside him. "Excluding you I mean."

"Well this might help." Thatch said hefting a bag of apples onto the railing besides him. "Apparently these are hungry boys who like apples."

He threw on into the water where it bobbed innocently in place.

"You know the ship is moving pretty fast?" Thatch asked after a few minutes.

He threw another apple in.

"So?"

"So that means that they have been following us for at least two days. What kid do you know of that can keep up with a ship?"

"Probably any kid that lives in water." Marco told him.

Thatch raised his arm to throw a third one but stopped. "Where did the first apple go?"

Sure enough there was only one apple bobbing in the water. The other one was gone. Thatch threw it into the water anyways as they held their breathes. After a few minutes a tiny hand came up and snatched the furthest apple dragging it under the surface. The last one disappeared the same way not a second later. It happened so quickly they could have easily missed it if they weren't careful.

"My god…" Thatch said as he tossed another round down. They both waited but the apples remained there. The little hand was gone. Perhaps Thatch's voice had scared it, perhaps something else. After a few hours, and many more apples none of which were eaten the two men gave up.

"What are we going to do?" Thatch asked as they made their way to the watch nest.

"There isn't much we can do," Marco said. "We could stop but there's not much point if it's already following us."

"Not an it, he." Thatch said. "Maybe multiple he's."

In the mourning they asked Namur to take a look around the area and although he grumbled he did. But after searching for half the day he came up with nothing. There was no little boy in the water. Nothing but Empty Ocean for miles and miles. Still they knew what they saw, or rather didn't see.

Nearly two days went by without a sighting and Marco was beginning to give up on getting to the bottom of this. After yet another late night watch with Thatch and

Thatch's apples he was awakened far too early by a harsh knocking on his door.

"What is it Haruta?" He answered.

The boy was excited about something, he was so fidgety he could barely stand still.

"I saw it again!" He was practically glowing in excitement. Off the back of the ship. I think there are two of them.

That woke Marco up as he let Haruta pull him down the maze of corridors and topside where he made his way to the back of the ship. Izo was already there, his dark eyes fixed firmly near the horizon.

"Where did they go?"

"They disappeared five minutes ago. They were in a pair. I don't know how long they have been following us but they sure do keep their distance."

So there were two of them.

"A blondie and a black haired one?"

Izo nodded as the three of them waited impatiently, leaning against the rail. Sure enough about half an hour later two heads once again popped out of the water; one blonde and one black. They were far away, a good hundred meters or so. But Marco met their eyes evenly and in one jump he took off. His phoenix wings erupted and he sped through the sky towards the two boys.

The second he moved the blond one disappeared, back under the water. But the black haired boy stood his ground. He had sunken a few centimeters back into the water, so the surface just about reached his nose. But his eyes were practically glowing with anger.

Marco hovered in front of him, his feet nearly touching the surface, something he had to mindful of. The two locked eyes and the little boy scowled and Marco swore he heard a loud growl. But before he had the chance to say anything there was a swish of water and the boy was gone.

Neither boy resurfaced again, despite them waiting for hours. But Marco was certain they were still following the ship. Thatch was sure as well and made sure to throw over some apples for them.

"So why are they following us?" Thatch asked as he finished preparing that night's dinner.

"Who knows?" Marco said as he watched his friend slice vegetables with precision. "They must have seen ships before." It wasn't uncommon for pirates and the navy to travel in this strait. Thatch paused in the chopping as he fingered a carrot thoughtfully. "Maybe it's the food. We dump a lot of the leftovers and stuff that's gone bad over the side. Plus our nets attract lots of fish. They might be following us for food." They sure ate the apples quickly enough.

Marco nodded. That made sense. "A better question is what are they? And where are their parents? Or at least other adults." They looked far too young to be out here by themselves. If it had been a full grown man swimming around they would have found that extremely odd. But chances were they would have moved on if it was apparent he didn't need help. But it was hard to ignore two unattended children all on their own.

"Whatever it is we will get to the bottom of it," Thatch promised and Marco knew he meant it. He had a soft spot for children the likes of which was rarely seen in pirates.

"Until then will you go check with the fishermen to see how much they caught today? I needed the numbers an hour ago."

As the head cook Thatch had responsibilities to look after his siblings much like Marco. The man dipped his head heading over to the back deck to see what the holdup was.

The sun was rapidly setting and the usually busy deck had become more subdued. The only ones on the deck at this time where the fishermen or those on guard duty. The rest of the crew was taking a break before dinner. No doubt dinner was going to be late tonight.

When Marco made it down to where the fishing nets were he was surprised to see five of the large fish nets already on deck, lying off to the side completely forgotten. All the fishermen's attention was fixed on the sixth net which was currently halfway out of the water.

"What's taking them so long?" He asked the nearest crew member.

He pointed to the sixth net where the group of fishermen were all huddled around trying to pull it up to little avail.

"No clue?" It must have gotten caught on something. It won't budge. We have been pulling it up inch by inch for nearly two hours. It's exhausting. We better have caught a ton of fish or I'm going to be pissed.

Marco remained silent as he watched them pull the fish net out of the water. If nothing else the fishermen were a tenacious bunch. They were determined to bring the hull onboard even if it broke every one of their backs. When they managed to pull it a third out of the water something changed. Like a switch being flipped whatever was holding the net back stopped and suddenly it was flying up into the air over the ship.

The crew cheered loudly but Marco ignored them instead to stare at the net. Was it his imagination or was there something red in it. From his spot underneath it looked like a red tail, about the size of a dolphins.

He heard a faint whimper missed by the others that snapped him into action.

"Lower it!"

"What?"

"Now!" He commanded crossing the deck to stand beside the lever system which had a small crowd around it .

"Aye aye," One of them said as the net came crashing to the deck. Marco stopped it a few feet before it could hit the wood.

"What the hell?" The lead fishermen asked as the others fell silent.

Unlike the other nets that were brimming with silver fish this one had very few. In lieu of dinner it held a little boy… or at least half of one. Instead of legs he had a bright red tail.

The crew pressed closer for a better look. All of them shocked silent.

"Is that… a mermaid?"

"It appears so," Marco said as he stepped closer keeping a careful eye on the little boys face. Although he was dripping with water it was easy to tell he had been crying. His bottom lip was trembling and his eyes were red. When Marco reached out a hand he let out a whimper.

"What do we do?"

Not too good in a crisis were they?

"Let him down that's what," Marco directed as they finished lowering it to the deck, much more carefully this time.

"What the hell is a mermaid doing all the way out here?" One of the men asked as they set about unloading the net.

That was a good question. It was extremely rare to see a mermaid outside of Fisherman's island. It was even rarer to see one this young and it was unheard of to see a baby Merfry outside of the Grandline. Most people in these parts thought them myths. Only the travelers knew better.

Marco sighed as he heard another sniff.

The men untied the net letting the fish flop freely onto the deck but the little boy didn't move. He lay stiff as the dead, tangled up in the net.

"Are you okay little one?" Marco asked cautiously as he carefully stepped onto the laid out net avoiding the fish and seaweed ensnared in its tangles. He asked the fishermen to give him their knife which they did. He dropped to his knees besides the kid pretending not to hear the desperate sniffles.

By this time word had begun to spread and a large crowd was forming around them full of crew members wanting to see a Merfry. Marco wished they wouldn't. The little guy was already terrified.

"Don't worry." He promised as he began to cut the net to free the boy. "We are going to get you out of here. How long he had been caught was anyone's guess.

Despite the fishermen's protest he cut the net pulling it off the kid and getting a better look at him as he did so. He was small and trembling hard. He had black hair and big dark eyes that looked at Marco like he was the devil incarnate. There were three grooves on each side of his neck that served as gills and his tail was a vibrant shade of red like a tropical reef fish.

While majestic in water the tail was dead weight on land and did little more than twitch as Marco ran his hands over it. The boy whimpered at the touch but he still didn't move. This was not the same boy from this morning. No, this was the tiny one who Haruta must have seen. The apple eater.

"What's wrong?" Marco questioned when the boy still did not move. He rested his hand on his tiny arm and the kid let out a whimper but didn't try to move away. It was then he noticed the dull red water around them. Slowly turning a brighter shade every minute.

"Call a doctor!" He shouted to the crew before turning his attention back to the kid who had jumped when he raised his voice.

"We aren't going to hurt you." He promised gently running his hands over him looking for an injury. It wasn't that hard to find. Near the base of his tail there was a large hook embedded all the way through. Marco winced. That must be painful.

It was a shark hook, to catch the sharks that tried to feed on the fish in the nets. It was designed to sink deeper the more they struggled and like all hooks it was impossible to dislodge once the barb was inside. He felt a stab of sympathy for the kid seeing the damage the hook had done to his little tail. He must have been struggling really hard for that kind of wound. There was no way he could dislodge this himself. This should be handled by a skilled doctor.

Marco cut the hook out of the net. Forget the doctor, he should take the kid there himself now.

But the second he realized he was free the little Merfry turned himself over with a powerful flap of his tail only digging the hook in deeper. Despite Marco's warnings he tried to crawl away, digging his fingernails into the wood as he crawled towards the railing. No way was Marco letting him go back in to the water bleeding like this. He would be dead within the week.

"We're not going to hurt you," he promised as he bent down besides the kid picking him up in one steady move. The tail was slimy in his hands but the skin felt surprisingly human.

As he was picked up the boy let out a terrified squeak and began to thrash around trying to free himself. Marco wondered if he even knew how to talk for how silent he was.

He turned to face the crew who were watching him like he was the most interesting thing that happened all day.

"Why is there a baby mermaid here?" Someone called.

"Guys I know you're curious but your scaring him." If the little fry's eyes got any bigger they would pop out of his head. He looked beyond terrified. "Go back to whatever you were doing, I promise I will find out and tell you about it later."

The crew grumbled but more or less did what they were told.

"And someone tell Oyaji!"

Holding the little guy to his chest Marco made his way through the crew members and below deck where he met the doctor rushing to help about halfway. They walked back to the hospital wing together. The doctor was so excited about the prospect of working on a mermaid it was almost embarrassing.

A small crowd gathered outside the door and Marco purposefully closed it behind them hoping the crew would get the message.

When Marco put him down on one of the beds he began to shake harder looking around the white room in sheer terror.

As the doctor pulled on his gloves he tried to roll off the bed but they stopped him.

"Would you hold him down?"

Marco agreed feeling bad as the little guy started whimpering.

"Can you talk?" The doctor asked as he felt around the wound.

The little boy nodded with a sniff.

"Why don't you tell us your name?"

A tear ran down his now dry cheek and he shook his head shifting under Marcos hands.

"Can you pull the hook out?" Marco asked having no idea how to comfort the kid.

"Not like this. It's all the way in and the surrounding skin was damaged. We will have to cut the end off and pull it all the way though."

The kid definitely understood that as his whimpers rose in volume and he stared to cry louder. Oops. The doctor and Marco shared an apologetic look. He tried to question the kid but he didn't answer a single one so the doctor gave up and focused on his work.

He gently cleaned the surrounding blood away and applied some topical antithetic to the area. From there he could cut off the end of the hook and it pull it out by its head.

"What do we do with him?" Marco asked as he pet the kid's hair reassuringly as the other man began to stitch up the wound.

"Well he's not going back into the water like this. His wound will reopen and he will bleed out. That's what Marco suspected.

"Still we can't just take off. There are other little ones out there. At least two, they have been following us for miles."

From the corner of his eye Marco noticed the kid sit up at that.

"We can't just leave them if they are on their own."

The doctor looked surprised at that. "Where is their pod?" Even more then human's mermaids were social creatures. They rarely traveled alone and preferred small groups of their family or friends. Although when they were still just Merfry they stuck close to their parents who were fiercely protective of them. Few surface dwellers had ever seen a Merfry or even an adolescent one because of how cautious the entire race was with their younglings. Unless you were in Fisherman's island and trusted enough by the community the kids were kept hidden away until at least they were old enough to fend for themselves. Which in the case of this little guy was many years away.

"Well until we get some answers we can't leave and until he heals we can't let him back into the ocean. There's no choice but to ask Oyaji to stall the boat. Marco agreed as he watched the doctor bandage the tail in waterproof bandages.

"What do we do with him until then?"

The doctor shrugged. He can't stay here forever. And he hasn't learned to move on land very well.

"I guess we can put him in the big bath for now. It had just been cleaned this morning, as it was every morning. And it was big enough the kid could swim around without straining himself too much. Plus Marco was sure that he would feel much better if he was back in water. He looked so scared and small here. Sure the crew would grumble a bit but there were other baths they could use.

Marco helped the kid sit up as he poked the bandages around his tail.

"Don't mess with that." The doctor told him and he stiffened.

"We are going to put you in some water okay?" He doubted the mermaid knew what a bath was and he didn't bother explaining. With the doctors help they picked him up again and made their way through the crowded halls earning some strange looks.

"I don't think he likes us very much." The doctor said and Marco had to agree.

"Well why would he? We trapped him in a net where he got hurt and then took him away from his friends." He felt the boy move his tail in agreement. His gills were less prominent now that they had dried. They looked more like scars. Without the tail he could easily pass for a human.

"We will have to lock him in," Marco said feeling bad when the little kid stiffened as they carried him into the bathroom. This early in the day it was empty.

"Not like he would get very far."

Far enough. Marco thought. He was pretty determined even if he had to drag himself all the way back to the bow he would.

The baths were a large network of pools walled off by rocks that made it feel like a hot spring rather than a bathroom. There was even a waterfall in the middle and bamboo surrounding it giving the bathers privacy. Marco figured the kid would be happy here for the minute.

They began to lower him into the bath but before they were halfway down he wiggled out of their hands and disappeared into the water with a loud splash.

"Is he going to be all right?" Marco asked when he did not resurface.

"He is just scared. I doubt we will see him again if he can help it. Maybe we should have given more thought to how we are going to get him out."

That was going to be an ordeal for sure. He doubted anyone but Namur was going to be able to catch a mermaid their element. And they had already used their favors with Namur for the month for how long he spent looking for the boys.

"You go talk to Oyaji and I will make sure everyone steers clear of here for the time being."

Marco agreed giving the bath one last glance before they left, shutting the door and locking it behind them.

 **XXX**

"Well this certainly is unexpected." Oyaji said with a laugh as he took another gulp of 'water'.

"No kidding."

"And you say there are others?"

"At least two, both still just Fry's. We think they are probably his pod."

"I guess we don't have much of a choice then, we will dock here until we can catch the other two brats or decide to release the little guy." Whitebeard sounded more amused then bothered by this. He was always the sort of guy who liked to be amused more then he liked being annoyed.

"Will he be okay in the baths?"

"We lowered the temperature and Thatch is going to feed him. He should be okay. At least we will know he is alive if the food keep disappearing."

Pops laughed at that. "I bet Thatch is going to love this."

"He does love kids."

This was going to be an interesting week Marco thought as he looked out at the sea expecting to see the other two boys bobbing ahead of the boat. But they weren't there.

 **XXX**

 **So before you question what a full grown twenty year old is doing writing mermaid fics like this I would like to defend myself by saying I was drawing chibi ASL as mermaids in a teapot and it was taking FOREVER. So I decided I might as well make a story to go along with it while I was at it. Also I'm out of work, done with classes and really bored so here you go. And for the record this is going to be a little story with three or five chapters at most. It's just going to be about ASL as mermaids meeting the Whitebeard pirates because I don't know if this had been done yet which is a shame because there are a million ASL meets WB stories out there and they are all amazing. In this version Luffy never met Shanks so he doesn't have the scar, the hat or the devil fruit yet.**

 **Fun fact I learned about fish while writing this. Fry's are what they call baby fish who have hatched and can feed themselves but don't have their scales or working fins. Fingerlings are baby fish with scales and functional fins but still not very big. Adolescent fish are fish who are nearing maturity but still not adults. Because I just made myself the leading authority on mermaids a hatchling is a baby mermaid 0-5 years old and hardly bigger than a stuffed animal. Their parents have to keep then in a special shallow pool without currents. A Merfry is about 6-10 years olds and can swim out in the open but don't have their adult scales or fins yet. A fingerling is 11-13 and much faster. Around this age their baby scales start molting and get replaced by adult scales which are both more durable and flashier. Adolescents are fourteen years and older and have their complete set of adult scales and full sized fins with a pronounced dorsal fin.**

 **Anyway thanks for reading! I will post the next chapter hopefully tomorrow and you will get to see Ace and Sabo's point of view as they look for Luffy. Anyway thanks or reading**


	2. Chapter 2

"He hasn't come out for anybody." Marco said with a sigh as Thatch followed him down the corridor to the baths. On top of all the other stress he now had to worry about the tiny Mermaid boy now entrusted into his care.

"I don't doubt it," Thatch said his tone much lighter then Marco's. He was more excited at the prospect of having a kid to care for then daunted by it.

"Who would want to see all you ugly mugs?"

"And yours is so nice?"

"Doesn't matter what my face is like," he held up the basket. "I have food."

Marco unlocked the door letting Thatch inside before closing it behind them. They had decided to keep it locked from both sides so the mermaid boy couldn't get out and the overeager crew couldn't get in.

The pool was clear and free from any movement. If Marco didn't know any better he would say it was empty. But he did know better. Although no one had seen the kid for over a day he was still in here somewhere. If nothing else he sure knew how to hide. If this boy had been part of a real pod then that would have been his only skill. No doubt he wouldn't have been caught if he was.

Thatch sat down at the edge of the pool pulling an apple from his basket.

"Hey little apple eater," he called to the empty room. "Remember me?" He put the apple in the water pushing it out towards the middle.

"I'm sorry we scared you. We didn't mean too."

There was only silence.

"You like apples right," he continued unperturbed that he was talking to himself.

"Guess I have to eat all these by myself then huh? Too bad there aren't any hungry kids around to help me."

Thatch smiled as two large eyes popped up near the back of the main pool, a lot like a baby alligator sensing out danger.

Marco knew the boy was being cautious. Trying to assess the threat level before he accepted a food offer. He also knew that it was taking a lot of his friend's will power not to laugh and ruin his imitation of survival behavior.

They watched as he drifted a little bit closer, keeping his eyes on them as he did so. When he was in arms reach of the apple he grabbed it and disappeared back under the water so fast all they saw was a flick of his red tail.

Thatch turned to Marco his mouth forming the word 'cute,' without any sound.

'I know,' Marco mouthed back crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall to watch.

"Do you want another one?" Thatch asked putting a second one in the water in front of him.

After a few moments of silence the kid appeared again just a few feet in front of them only this time his whole head and shoulders were out of the water.

Thatch gently pushed the apple over to him which he grabbed sinking back down to his nose to eat it, all the while staring at them intently.

"We can't just feed him apples forever," Marco said making sure to keep his voice soft. The kid jumped anyways but didn't hide back under the water.

Thatch laughed at that. "Don't be scared, that's just dumb old Marco. He couldn't catch you even if he wanted too."

The wide eyes flitted quickly to Marco then back to Thatch. He probably would have disappeared again if not for the promise of more apples.

"And I'm Thatch, what's you name."

The Merfry looked once again from Thatch to Marco then to the apple in Thatch's hand before turning down at the water. He muttered something but they couldn't hear it.

"What was that?"

"Luffy," He said holding his head out of the water.

"It's nice to meet you squirt," Thatch said holding out the apple which the kid…Luffy snatched out of his hand so quickly it looked like he had been burned.

Both men watched in amusement as half the apple disappeared in one bite. It was completely gone in another two not leaving so much as the core, seeds or even the stem.

Marco coughed in surprise, "You must be hungry." Did Mermaids usually eat apples? He didn't know. He doubted it was part of their regular diet. But considering the circumstances he doubted this little pod was very picky about what they ate. If they were indeed all alone it was a miracle they had survived this long. Three Merfry did not equate to an adult after all.

Seemingly sensing his thoughts Thatch laughed again. "I don't just have apples. Do you want some fish?"

Luffy nodded as Thatch handed him one of the silver fish that seemed to populate this area.

"Don't we have to cook it?"

"I doubt it Thatch said making a face as they watched Luffy attack it with viciousness previously unseen. Much like the apple he ate it all in a few bites, starting with the head and down the body until the tail hung out no his mouth while he chewed. Marco could hear the sound of bones crunching under his teeth.

"I don't think fire is something they have access to," Thatch elaborated as Luffy slurrped up the tail swallowing it whole.

Marco crackled his nose as Luffy looked innocently onwards despite the fish blood dripping from his mouth and mixing with the water. He was going to have nightmares about that one. He hoped for all their sakes that part of getting the kid to trust them did not require them to do that as well.

He rose further out of the water without realizing it as he crept towards Thatch eager for more.

"Where does he put it all?" Thatch's wondered and Marco just shrugged. The doctor had mentioned to him later that Luffy was looking a bit thin. He made it clear that he was in no way shape or form qualified to diagnose mermaids but from what he knew of human anatomy the ribs weren't supposed to stick out like that. Marco, who was even less qualified, had to agree.

"Want to talk to us for a second Luffy?"

The kid shook his head, his eyes still on the fish.

"Whys that?" Thatch asked 'innocently' swinging the fish in his hands. Knowing the kid was hooked on its every movement, practically drooling. A hungry little Merfry indeed.

"My brothers said I'm not allowed to talk to humans."

Thatch and Marco shared a look as Marco pushed himself off the wall. At the movement Luffy sunk back into the water gliding backwards with a certain grace no land dweller could hope to achieve.

"Those two boys are your brothers?"

Luffy nodded cautiously and his tail flicked nervously above the surface.

"The black haired boy with the freckles and the blonde one?"

He nodded again relieved when Thatch threw the fish towards him. Neither man wanted to watch him eat again and luckily enough for them when he caught the fish he sunk under the surface. Still they could hear the snapping of bones and see the blood.

"He is like a little sea monster." Thatch said and Marco had to agree.

"So if they are his brothers we have a bigger problem on our hands."

"How so?"

Marco glanced at the bloody spot. He could still hear Luffy eating. He wondered if he was listening to them or not. He figured he should probably save this conversation for later. Thatch seemed to understand and they both fell silent.

Luffy popped up a few minutes later licking his lips.

"Hey bud?" Thatch called to him and he swam back over too curious to remember to be wary.

"Hmm?"

"Where are your parents?"

They expected it to be a sensitive question but apparently not. Luffy just shrugged noncommittally. "Don't have any."

"What happened to them?"

He shrugged again creeping closer to Thatch's basket, having finally figured it to be the source of the food. He was like an endless pit when it came to food.

"Dunno."

Thatch sighed. That's what they figured but it didn't make their jobs any easier.

"So you three are on your own then?"

Luffy shrunk back again.

"Right, you're not supposed to talk to us." Thatch remembered. That's fine, he was going to take that as a yes.

"Will you answer one more question? Then you can have the rest of the fish." He gestured to the basket.

Luffy looked hesitant but it was clear he couldn't turn down food.

"Kay."

"How do you guys survive? I mean it must be hard right. Especially if you don't talk to humans. There are no other mermaids around for thousands of miles. What do you guys do?"

The ocean was a harsh place. It was eat or be eaten out here. And it seemed near impossible for the boys to have survived as long as they had on their own.

"We hunt," Luffy said as the end of his tail gave another flick. Marco got the impression it did that when he was nervous. "We are really good at hunting. And when boats pass like this one they drop a lot of food."

"They mostly drop food that's gone bad. Doesn't that make you sick?" Thatch asked with worry.

The mermaid just shook his head. "Nuh-uh."

Marco figured that their stomachs must be made out of iron.

"What about when things get rough? Sea storms or when the fish migrate?"

Without warning the sea could shift from a beautiful paradise to a harsh unforgiving wasteland bare of food. And nothing against the little Merfry but it didn't seem like he would be able to deal with that, he was simply too young to know better.

Predictably the red tail flicked again as Luffy bit his lip, clearly torn between obedience and hunger. It as unsurprising which one won out.

"There are lots of hard times," He said quieter. "But my brothers are really smart and strong. They always know what to do." He sniffed a little at the thought.

"They take care of you?"

He nodded. "Can I go back now? I'm sorry for eating the fish out of your nets but I really miss them." He looked around the room sinking to his chin. "I don't like it here. I can catch you more fish if you just let me go."

It was going to be really hard to say no to that puppy dog face but they had no choice. Not after what he just told them. No doubt these children were tough. That didn't mean the Whitebeards could just abandon them without another thought, turning their backs as everyone else had.

Marco crouched down besides Luffy who shrank backwards.

"Luffy we didn't put you in here to punish you. We don't care about the fish. We only caught you by accident. But you really hurt your tail." Luffy looked down at the bandage around the base before turning his gaze back up to Marco.

"If we let you go back into the ocean you are going to get more hurt. It pierced the muscle, you can't swim very well until it heals. We didn't mean to separate you from your family, I know how much that must hurt. I'm sure they are really worried about you. We are trying to find them okay? Then we can figure something out. We aren't going anywhere until we do."

Luffy sniffed again. "Thank you."

"No problem buddy."

They left him with the remaining fish which cheered him up a bit. As did Thatch promising to bring him more food next time.

Marco felt even worse about locking the door this time, knowing they were leaving little Luffy who was scared enough as it was all alone. But their company wasn't the one he needed. Besides they couldn't risk him getting out. He would reunite with his brothers and they would never be seen again. Eliminating any chance of helping them and sentencing them to a life of bare survival until the younglings finally met a challenge they couldn't overcome on their own. Most notably the injured tail.

"So what's the problem? He has a family. This is good right?"

"Not so much," Marco sighed. We separated him from his family pod. That's like a death sentence to a Merfry."

"How does that work?" Thatch asked baffled. Like most humans he wasn't familiar with the interworkings of mermaid culture. Although they were structurally similar to humans there were some key differences.

"For a developing mermaid their family pod means everything to them. They are a lot like whales in the way their brains have a special part dedicated to social and emotional ties that humans don't."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that from hatchling up to adolescent they can't survive separated from their family unit. It raises their stress and weakens the immune system to potentially fatal levels so any minor stressor can take over."

Thatch gave him a look that was somewhere between worry and disbelief. "Are you just making things up now?"

"I wish," Marco sighed. "But it's common across multiple species who partake in K-select breeding strategies; dogs, many types of whales and birds, wolves, dolphins, elephants… I can keep going."

Thatch held his hand up. "That's all right I get the picture." He glanced back at the door. "Poor Luffy. So if we don't get his brothers he will literally die?"

"Probably die," Marco corrected. "And if separated long enough the other two might as well. From the little bit I saw none of them seem old enough to survive abandonment. Probably for a second time in their lives."

"But if we let him go his wound will re-open and he will also die."

"Or he won't be able to catch enough food with an unhealed handicap and starve."

"Aren't you all doom and gloom today," Thatch said bitterly. "How much time do we have?"

"I don't know enough about it to say. It probably varies from individual to individual." But they should probably find out and do a bit of research. This wouldn't be a spontaneous event there would be dozens of warning signs and a slippery decline of appetite, health and energy that would be near impossible to miss.

"So the rest of his pod, his brothers. Their sticking close by then?"

Marco nodded. No way they would abandon him.

"But they are too afraid of people to confront us. Then how are we going to capture them as well? That is what we have to do right? I doubt they are going to come with us willingly and we already established we can't just let the little guy go like he is."

"Unfortunately this is what we have to do," Marco confirmed. They were pirates and used to playing the bad guys. Although kidnapping defenseless children against their wills was a new one ultimately it would be for their own good. If they were hated for it then so be it as long as they could help some orphans who got dealt a rotten hand in life.

"I don't think we have to do anything," Marco admitted. "The little Merfry's are going to come to us.

 **XXX**


	3. Chapter 3

"Their probably eating him!"

Sabo watched unamused as his brother bit into the fish with a viciousness usually reserved for hunting dangerous prey. The fish wiggled futilely in his mouth further annoying Ace as he snapped it's neck with a single grind of his teeth.

"I've told you a hundred times they don't eat mermaids. That would be like eating each other and they don't do that either."

"Right because you know so much about humans."

"More then you apparently."

"Shut up."

It had been nearly two days since Luffy had been taken and the hopes that he would be returned were all but gone.

Ace took another bite of the fish ripping its body apart with his sharp teeth. The blood dispersed into the water around them like dust into air.

"I told him not to get too close to the ship. This is his fault."

"Luffy doesn't know any better." Sabo defended settling down onto one of the rocks besides Ace. He hadn't witnessed the cruelty of human kind the same way the two of them had. He had grown up hearing stories but apparently that wasn't the same as experiencing it himself.

"I'm sure he understands now."

"Fat lot of good it will do him." Ace muttered as he swallowed the rest of the fish. Sabo silently agreed.

He had been the first to spot the ship a couple of days ago. Food had been getting far too scare in these parts so it had been a welcome distraction. Unfortunately the guardsman saw Sabo during his scouting. They had warned Luffy to stay away from the ship unless he was with one of them. The last thing they needed was any more contact with the crew. Humans were far too persistent for their own good and when it came to mermaids they got greedy. But Luffy hadn't listened. Driven by his stomach he seeked out the ship to get more food. Ace had caught him several times eating the throw away scraps and dragged him away. The last time it seemed like the humans were actually feeding him like a goldfish. Ace had pulled him away so roughly that he had red marks on his arm all day. But the trouble didn't stop there, oh no. The humans had actually sent a shark man creature after them. For whatever reason it appeared he obeyed the humans rather than looking for freedom for himself. The three of them had watched from a kelp bed as he searched the patch of ocean for them. It wasn't hard. If there was one thing Fry's like them excelled at it was hiding. It was a life or death skill at their age.

Their tail scales were still a single color. In a few months he and Sabo would begin to molt. A mermaid molted its scales twice in its life. Both in childhood. The first was during the fingerling stage when the soft scales of babyhood would be replaced with the thicker and courser scales that marked the fingerling stage of eleven to thirteen year olds. The scales weren't permanent but more of a transition to their adult scales which they would keep for the rest of their lives. The temporary scales served as tops of sorts so the adult scales could grow undisturbed underneath while ensuring the young mermaid could still hide without fear of the flash of their adult tails attracting predators.

At the end of the fingerling stage the secondary scales would begin to fall off when the adult scales were finished growing. This happened throughout Adolescents or as Ace liked to call it fish-puberty. Fitting considering one of the purposes of their adult scales was mating.

Adolescents was a bit of an awkward stage for a fish, as puberty was for all creatures. It began when the first secondary scale was shed giving way to a single adult scale underneath. And it ended roughly three years later when the last fingerling scale fell and the adult tail was complete. That's when mating officially began and the mermaids needed their bright colors and flashy tails to attract a mate. Which they would keep for life.

But their adult tales didn't just look pretty. Unlike the baby scales which were soft and flexible the adult scales were hard making them more durable and suited for the harsh conditions of the ocean and hunting. Along with the scales the fins began to change around the fingerling stage as well as they grew more angular and elaborate. Around this time a tertiary fin would sprout up. All of this was to help with speed, reproduction, durability and power.

Ace had once asked Sabo why, if they were supposed to be so good at hiding, their tales were so brightly colored. They stuck out more than anything. Especially out here amongst the various shades of grey. Sabo had told him that they were a tropical species and much better suited to the reefs then out here. Which would have been great considering life was much easier there. In fact that's where they had lived out the majority of their hatchling years. None of them had a parent or pod to teach survival but with some trial and error they managed. It wasn't terribly hard as the reefs were brimming with life most of which was edible. It was in the reef near Dawn island that Sabo and Ace found each other and a few years later little Luffy. But it seems like they couldn't catch a break as a few years ago the reef was destroyed by all the trash the nobles dumped into the ocean. And they watched as what had been their home for years withered and died, suffocating under layers of human trash. So they left into the great blue beyond. From time to time they would stumble across another reef but it was much rarer and most of the time they were forced to leave either from predators, lack of food or being discovered by humans. Which led them here. In the middle of nowhere, low on food and with their baby brother kidnapped.

It had been two days ago that Sabo and Ace woke up to an empty cave. Luffy was nowhere to be seen. They immediately knew he must be scrounging for food around the ship again. They caught up easily but a quick lap around its massive hull revealed no little brother. They called to him until they were blue in the face but he didn't come, even when they were practically begging. Fearing the worst the two had no choice but to follow behind the ship. The humans spotted them a few times. But they didn't think much of it, as getting Luffy back was the priority, until one of them freaking Grew Wings! And tried to confront them. Ace looked about ready for a fight but Sabo pulled him down quickly before he got the chance.

They had begun to circle the ship relentlessly after that and it was then they found Luffy. He was a few meters away on the sea floor tangled up in their fishing nets and crying his eyes out. His tail had been impaled on a hook meant to trap predators. It had just been a shallow wound at first but the more he struggled the deeper it went. By the time Ace and Sabo arrived it was impossible to dislodge. They tried their best to help him but there wasn't much they could do. The net was too thick to be chewed or scraped open and even if they could there was nothing to be done about the hook. Luffy was as good as caught. Of course they didn't tell him that. There's no way they could as he was crying the entire time already terrified. It was painful to watch. Sabo tried to comfort him while Ace snapped at him to shut up. It only got worse as the nets began to rise. They tried their best to stop it. They made sure the net snagged on every single rock and crevice as it dragged across the sea floor. They filled it with stones and even told the fish to swim down together. And when all else failed the two boys tried to pull the net themselves. Nothing seemed to help. The humans refused to lose the days catch. Finally they had been forced to give up or risk being revealed to the humans as well, which would help nobody. All though it was a horrid feeling to just abandon Luffy and let the humans take him.

Which led them to now. They had no plan, nobody to go to for help and no idea what the humans were doing to him. Maybe they really were eating him? The humans had stopped moving after they caught him, for what end neither of them knew. Although if they had to guess it was probably to capture the rest of their pack.

"You know what we have to do." Ace said seriously and Sabo frowned.

"We are not doing that! It's too dangerous."

"Luffy needs us!" Ace argued. "What kind of pod would we be if we just left him?"

"What kind of big brothers would we be if we rushed in and got caught as well? How are we going to save him if we are just as trapped?"

"The kind that doesn't abandon their baby!" Ace snapped angrily. "What? you propose we just sit around and hope the humans give him back! I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. Humans never give anything back. They are selfish greedy creatures."

Sabo fell silent as he thought over what Ace said. "So we go and rescue him then?"

"We go rescue him." Ace confirmed. Let the humans try to capture them. They would be ready.

 **XXX**

"God he must be so bored in here." Haruta commented looking around at the still water of the baths.

"I'm sure he has bigger problems Thatch told him dryly as he put the basket, which was filled with fish, on the ground.

Namur, the current leading expert on mermaids was trying to help them take care of this youngling and track the other two.

They had all agreed to let the Fry pod come to them. There was no way they wouldn't. It was a better plan then going in there after them. Plus they had already proved they could hide extremely well so there was little use in trying.

Surprisingly enough Luffy, who was nervous around humans, was terrified of fishman and had never seen one before. How that was possible for a mermaid they did not know. Just another mystery stacked up with the orphan pod. When Namur came to help Thatch with the feeding Luffy had refused to come out, not even for the promise of food. He finally resurfaced hours later at the insistence of the doctor. Although he did little more than peek his head out of the water, take one look at the doctor's tools and dive back down.

The doctor was understandably not pleased but after a lot of yelling and threats to come in after the kid he finally gave up. As much as they needed to make sure his tail was healing properly there wasn't much they could do to force Luffy. Not only would it be superbly embarrassing if they attempted to catch him but it would mean invading Luffy's safe space and breaking the very fragile trust they had built. So the doctor lamented to leave it for now. They would have to work out a way later.

Thatch and Marco had dissuaded the crew from trying to see him. As entertaining as the Merfry's were proving to be they were scared enough without the rest of the crew making it worse. Most of them accepted that with grumbles, only Haruta demanded to come with Thatch. He pointed out that he had been the first to see Luffy and he could be useful. Thatch finally agreed, if only to get the boy off his back. So the two of them had prepared and carried the food to the baths. Marco was tied up with his duties and couldn't sneak away but told them to give the Fry his best.

"Buddy come out," Thatch called across the large pool and was met with silent stillness.

"We have food."

The boy submerged a few feet away from them, he swam toward the basket excitedly but Thatch grabbed it and moved it further from the edge before it disappeared forever.

"Not so fast kid."

Luffy pouted the loss as he looked at Thatch pleadingly.

"Awww," Haruta said from besides him.

It was only then Luffy took note of the other boy who was staring at him in wonder. Haruta was one of the few crew members who had never seen a mermaid before.

Luffy froze, his hand extended halfway to the side. He glanced quickly to Thatch before backing away from them.

"Don't fret bud. This is my friend Haruta. He threw the apple remember?"

Luffy nodded slowly his big eyes fixed on Haruta as if he was trying to figure out if he was a threat of not. He only came back when Thatch offered him some fish.

"Are you up for another little chat Luffy?"

Luffy shook his head as he swallowed the fish whole.

"Can I go home yet?"

Thatch frowned sympathetically at him. Namur had confirmed what Marco said about the dangers of being separated from the pod. He knew how much it must be stressing Luffy out.

"Not till your tail heals remember."

Luffy flapped his tail looking at the bandages near the base thoughtfully. "When is it going to heal?"

"Probably quicker if you let the doctor take a look. That's a question you will have to ask him."

"Okay." Luffy said quietly and he was so disheartened Thatch gave him another hand full of fish to raise his spirits.

"So you said you don't have any parents. Did you guys ever have a caretaker or something?"

Luffy shook his head.

"So you three really have been alone your whole life?"

"I'm not supposed to talk about this." Luffy reminded him once he finished chewing. He waited impatiently for Thatch to give him more. The rate he ate them was incredible.

"What do you want to talk about then?"

Luffy looked around them. "Why did you build this thing? Can't you just swim to where you want to go instead?"

Haruta and Thatch shared a look and they both had to stop themselves from laughing. This kid was clueless.

"We would drown," Haruta told him dryly.

"Ohhhh," Luffy said. "Ace told me it was because you were Lazy.

"Who's Ace?"

But Luffy had apparently said too much and with a small splash of water he was gone.

"He has an uncanny sense of when the fish are gone." Haruta said looking at the empty basket.

"Tell me about it," Thatch agreed.

 **XXX**

Luffy heard the click of the door as the humans left. He didn't know what it was but he did know the door wouldn't open for him. He had already tried countless times.

He swam a few laps around the water. It was much shallower then he was used to and there wasn't enough space to go very fast. Not that he could move easily as every time he flexed his tail wrong it really hurt. There wasn't very much to do aside from swimming in circles and hiding from the scarier looking humans. He liked it when they fed him. Which they did often. But the times between he was miserable.

He spent most of the first day calling nonstop to his brothers. But for the first time in his life they didn't respond. Now he just aimlessly swam and occasionally played in the tiny waterfall. It was about the only thing in here that moved. At the top of the waterfall there was a small pool where the water was the warmest. Luffy used that as a temporary nest and would curl up to nap and sleep. He thought it was safe because the humans thought he wouldn't be able to get up there himself. He knew this because they had told the scary shark-human so. As if he wasn't scary enough he corrected them by saying Luffy was capable to jump far higher distances then that.

Scary as he was the shark man had brought him some live fish to keep him company. Once the humans had left once again he had enjoyed chasing them, even if it really hurt. He had left one alive to keep him company. Luffy wanted to talk to it but its brain was too tiny to understand him and thus made for a lousy companion. The shark man had also given him a red ball that he batted around with his tail and some animal bones which he hoarded in the nest.

The three boys had built an amazing nest back at the Goa reef. It was full of shiny human things and they were very proud of it. That place had felt like home. Luffy was devastated when it got destroyed. As he was every time they had to leave a nest and lose all their stuff in order to migrate. He knew the same thing would happen here and he would have to part with his collection once again. Only this time he would be grateful rather than remorse. For what end did humans need an ocean room Luffy did not know. But Ace was right when he called them crazy.

Luffy had spent a little time in tide pools when he occasionally got trapped during low tide. He didn't mind it so much because he knew the tide would return eventually and until then he would nap or play with the sea anemones. But this was different because there were no anemones, or starfish, or little crabs or seaweed. The only thing he had were a few bones, a ball and a fish. And although they did make him feel better it felt like there was a black pit in his chest that grew worse every day. He just wanted to be back with his brothers.

 **XXX**

"You're terrible at this."

"Shut up."

Sabo sat on one of the rocks at the sea floor sharpening a pointed rock to a point. Ace was beside him flat on his back like he was throwing a fit and panting.

"I don't have the practice you do."

"I'll say."

He was of course refereeing too the pair of human legs that had replaced Sabo's tail. It had taken him less than half an hour to turn his blue tail into two pale legs.

"This was your plan not mine." The blonde so helpfully pointed out. "I wanted to stay in the water. We are sitting ducks on the surface."

"Staying in the water isn't going to help Luffy. And he sure as hell isn't going to grow a pair of legs on his own." Unlike the older two Luffy had never learned to use legs. They didn't even know if he could do it. Apparently it was very rare. But for the sake of the plan they hoped he could. After all he was like them so it should theoretically be possible.

"How long can you hold it?"

"Half a day," Sabo told him.

"Shit really?"

"It was only when I had to." No body mentioned why Sabo had been forced to stay in human form longer then he should have. A lot of it was about practice. Now it was probably under ten hours.

"What about you?"

Ace looked down at his tail. The scales were beginning to recede to make way for skin but he still had a long way to go before he could walk on them.

"My record if five hours. But I don't think I can do that anymore."

"If we get caught we are screwed."

"We just have to make sure we're not caught then." Ace said forcing the rest of the scales to retract. He smiled, wiggling his newly revealed toes in accomplishment.

 **XXX**

 **So there you have it. Luffy and his brothers are halflings (more on this later). His brothers are staging a plot to get him back. I will have hopefully have the third chapter up soon. I just started a new job and school is starting up again soon so I expect the updates for all the stories are going to get more scarce so I will do my best to write as much as I can until then. Thank you guys so much for the support. I am so happy you seem to like this odd ball little story.**

 **Kyekye: Thank you!**

 **KingCreations:**

 **Tobalerone: Thank you! It went into it a little more here but the last time they just hid. So rather than forcing them they are waiting until they come to the WB's to talk. Hopefully Jinbe later! Because that would be so cute.**

 **Guest: thanks!**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: He is so cute. Ace is very angry. Angry enough to storm a ship. Namur is like the head zoologist in charge of Luffy's exhibit but in the ocean Sabo and Ace can and have, hid from him so they are waiting for them to confront the WB's first. Thanks for the review**

 **myzmsandraa99: Yes Luffy is really sad** **And he is going to get sadder each day. I think the injury is like breaking both of his ankles. He can still use his tail but not very well. Ace and Sabo realized immediately and they are doing there best to help! And all three are adorable** **Thak you for the review. Mermaid OP fanart is so cute.**

 **Riverway14: Thank you**

 **Kirigakure Shura: Thank you! Luffy and co are adorable, thank you for thinking so. And soon the Wb's will agree.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for sticking with me. Once again I lied. I said in chapter one this story was only going to be a few chapters but it looks like it's going to be a bit longer than five. Still not monster long as I only have one main plot point for this story. And then some cute fluff chapters. Any who I am really surprised so many people are interested in this story. So thank you! I will do my best to post more chapters before school starts again. And for all those whose school has already started good luck.**

 **XXX**

As it turns out swimming with legs was much harder. It was no wonder the humans stayed out of water.

Ace kicked his legs following his brother to the surface world. He was glad the ship had stopped. If it had continued to move it would have been increasingly hard to follow like this. His movement were graceless and forced. For a good ten minutes after he had managed to change his tail he could do nothing but flail. But now that he got the hang of this he kicked his legs getting enough of a current to carry him up.

Every few minutes Sabo would pause and wait for him before the two continued to swim together. They could clearly see the bottom of the humongous ship and it only got bigger the nearer they got.

"How the hell are we going to find him in that?" Sabo asked daunted.

"It's like that one time when that giant whale swallowed him."

"Uhg don't remind me."

Thankfully enough the whale had been a friendly one and had spat him out when they explained what happened. Whales and dolphins were usually helpful like that. Sharks were another story. It was from old whales that the little Fry's learned about themselves and the outside world. They had been told of the paradise of Fisherman's island and the hardships they had to face because of humans. Dumb humans.

"First things first. How do we get up?"

"How good are you at climbing?" Ace asked.

"We're about to find out aren't we?"

Apparently the legs were good for something. They were much more efficient at climbing then a heavy tail would have been. Even if neither boy had complete control yet. Ace went first, having dubbed himself, without any evidence at all, the better climber. They used the thick chains of the anchor to heave themselves from the ocean and climb towards deck. They had waited until the cover of nightfall before they left but they still had to be careful not to be spotted by the night watchman and his infernal light that circled the dark ocean like a miniature lighthouse.

"Muscles I didn't know I had are sore." Ace complained as his thumb got jammed yet again in the link and he had to pull it free with a cuss.

"Hush," Sabo told him as they stilled, waiting for the light to pass over their heads.

"I am going to murder Luffy when we get him back." Ace whispered once the light had passed and they resumed climbing.

"Don't you think he's being punished enough?" After all he had ever been apart from them this long since he joined their makeshift pod.

"You always side with him!" Ace accused. "And he isn't the one scaling the side of a ship so no!"

"Yes he's just the one whose tail got impaled," Sabo hissed back not in the mood to play peace keeper between the two when Luffy wasn't even here. "But fine when we get him back you can punish him to your hearts content.

Silence fell between the two of them again as they both thought about getting the kid back. They were risking a lot venturing into the human territory like this. They couldn't hope to win a fight here on the human's turf. Not only were they hopelessly outnumbered but they were slow and out of place on land. Their best chance if they were discovered was jumping overboard before the humans could catch them. But that was best case scenario. They were risking a lot.

Ace paused near the top of the chain to give Sabo a serious look. This had been his plan. Sabo had thought it was too risky. Usually it was a good idea to listen to the blonde's warnings. Apparently he was the only one with half a brain, according to their whale friends that was.

"If we do get discovered…"

"You mean when."

"Shut up… _IF_ we get caught promise me you will get out of there. Don't wait for me just go."

Sabo fixed his brother with a serious look. As if he knew exactly what Ace was thinking. Ace always hated that look.

"Right so while you do the whole I-don't-run-from-my-enemies thing I am supposed to just leave you?"

"Yes!" Ace insisted. "Like you said if we both get caught it's all over. At least one of us needs to get away."

Sabo fell silent once more as he thought what that would mean. He had never run while Ace stayed to fight before. If the hot head risked his life then he would be there to back him up. Even if it was a moronic to do so. But Ace was right. As long as one of them was free they still had a chance.

"Fine," he agreed after a moment. "But same for you got it!"

Ace scowled.

"Got it!"

"Fine!"

"Knew I could count on you." Sabo said poking his head over the railing.

Cautiously the two climbed onto the deck and into the human's territory.

 **XXX**

Luffy had been sleeping was he heard the key slide into the lock. He sat up in his makeshift 'nest' eagerly as he dove down into the large pool below. He had quickly been trained that the click of the lock meant that he was going to be fed. He liked being fed. Never before had someone literally handed him food, a lot as well. It had really shaped his view of humans. And while he wasn't willing to forget the net incident so quickly, or separation from his brothers, nor isolation in a tiny tide pool like room or years of warnings he did like the human with poofy hair and the blonde pineapple one.

He heard the sound of heavy footsteps stop at the edge of the pool and he followed, surfacing near the wall.

But it was not Thatch, nor the blonde that greeted him.

"Aren't you cute!"

His excitement gone Luffy paused. Looking up at the strange man with trepidation. He was much larger than the other two and rather stocky.

Luffy shrunk back sinking into the water to his eyes.

"Where are you going little guy?" The man asked, his voice booming in the small room. "

You're a hungry little monster aren't you?"

Luffy's eyes flickered to the bag in his arms that smelt strongly of fish and blood. As much as his instincts were telling him to go his stomach wanted him to stay. It had been growling nonstop all night.

Encouraged by that the man continued. "Our friend Thatch gave me the key. Said to feed you these." He gestured to the bag.

"Want it?" He asked holding up one of the fish.

Luffy dipped his head slightly, his eyes never leaving the man's face. Much like Thatch had the first day the man threw the fish into the waters between them making Luffy swim closer to get it.

Luffy retrieved it but swam back to the middle of the pool to eat it. All the while watching the dark haired stranger like he was a shark.

Amused at the behavior the man laughed, an odd off putting sound.

"Zehaha. I thought the boys on deck were lying when they told me a mermaid got tangled up in the haul. But here you are. First time one of their wild rumors turned out to be true. I see Thatch come down here day in and day out and it made me curious." He let out another laugh. "No wonder. This is too good."

Luffy swallowed the rest of the fish watching the man. He didn't like the stranger one bit. He wished Thatch was here instead.

Apparently the dislike was mutual as the mans face twisted as he watched Luffy finish off the fish.

"Those are some mighty sharp teeth you got there little boy." He held up another fish offering it to Luffy.

Against his better judgment Luffy drifted closer waiting impatiently for him to drop the fish. When he did he dug in turning the surrounded water a dull red.

"You look human enough from here but I guess you're more sea creature then man huh? Can you even talk or did no one show you how."

Luffy was only partway listening to his ramble. He didn't understand everything the man said, not because he didn't get the words but the meaning went over his head. Plus he wasn't trying too hard. He was anxious to put the fish in his stomach and go back to bed, tucked away safe in the little pool.

"I've seen some mermaids before, mermen as well." The man continued to talk as Luffy waited with an impatient flick of his tail for the rest of the food. "Never seen one so small before. Most of those mermaid bitches are hot as hell. Stuck up like you wouldn't believe though. Think they're better than us or something."

Luffy didn't know about all of that. But his opinion of the human continued to fall. He wanted to leave but the smell of the bag stopped him.

"Eat up freak." He said offering him another.

When Luffy reached for it the man struck, like an angler fish to a minnow. He dropped the fish ad snatched the boys wrist with bone breaking force.

Luffy cried out in fear as he yanked backwards. But the water was too shallow to get enough force and the man pulled him from the pool like he was made of seaweed.

"So you can talk?" The man mused as he threw Luffy onto the rough ground.

Luffy tried to flip over onto his stomache so he could crawl away but the man brought a heavy boot down onto his tail pinning him in place.

Luffy screamed as he did so. Feeling tears prickle in his eyes at the pain of his fresh wound being stomped on.

"Stop!" He sniffed trying in vain to free himself.

"Quit squirming. I'm just taking a look. He ran a rough finger down Luffy's neck feeling the slimy surface of his gills before he turned his attention to the tail.

"That's a pretty tail you got there." The man said tugging on one of the scales experimentally. "Bet it would fetch a pretty price huh."

Luffy was forced to stop struggling when a meaty hand came up to squeeze his throat warningly.

"I told you kid shut up and sit still and I won't hurt you."

Luffy watched wide eyes as he pulled a knife from his pocket.

"Souvenir," he told him seeing the nervous eyes. He slid the knife under one of Luffy's tail scales and wrenched it out.

"ACE! SABOOOOOOOO, Help Me!" Luffy screamed before the man covered his mouth with a meaty hand.

"Shut up would you. Want every one of the goddamn boat to hear you? They're not your friends either you know. Don't fall for the whole…OWWWW!"

Luffy's razor teeth came down onto his fingers making the man loosen his grip in surprise. He was knocked back by the red tail and fell onto his butt. Not wasting a second Luffy turned onto his stomach as he dove back for the water. The man reached out a hand to stop him but it was too late and the little Merfry disappeared over the edge of the pool, leaving a small trail of blood after him.

 **XXX**

"No wonder they wear clothes these things are hideous," Sabo said as he pulled himself over the railing.

Ace looked down at his legs and had to agree. "Should we put clothes on too?"

"Yea probably." Sabo agreed looking around. It was pretty late and few pirates were still out. For the most part the deck was deserted but they still had to be carefully.

"It might help us blend in," Sabo agreed. Regardless of how uncomfortable they were.

They ended up stealing some clothing that had been left to dry on the railing and subsequently forgotten after the sun set. Sabo wore a ragged shirt while Ace had to make do with a pair of oversized shorts.

"And these help do them what exactly?" He asked as he tied the waist into a knot on his hip so the infernal things would stay up.

"Not much," Sabo told him peaking over a barrel to make sure no one had come through the door. "It keeps them warm and it's rude not to wear them. They are all really weird about it." He remembered asking his father the same question as a kid. Only in that case the answer had been to 'shut up and go away.'

"What now? Where do we even start?"

"Should we split up."

Ace shook his head. If they were going to do this then he wanted to keep close to his brother at all time. "Besides it will take us forever even if we do split up."

"Together then."

Ace agreed as the two made their way over to the door that led below deck. They were armed only with makeshift knives they had whittled to a point. No doubt the humans had much sharper weapons. Ace didn't like the thought.

He shut the door behind them once they were inside the stairwell. Sabo put his head to the floor listening for footsteps of approaching crew, or possibly even Luffy's calls for them. But he couldn't hear much above the constant humming of the ship.

"Maybe we should check the kitchen." Ace muttered as they crept around the corner.

"For the last time they did _Not!_ eat him."

"Says you." Ace says as they crept around another corner.

"Shit! Someone's coming." They could hear the thump of heavy footsteps echoing off the walls.

Sabo pulled his brother down the corridor as they tried all the doors. They threw themselves into the first unlocked one just in time before the crew member turned the corner. The room was filled with boxes and appeared to be a storage closet or something of that sort.

When the footsteps had passed the boys once again continued onwards. Despite the hour the ship was surprisingly active. As far as Ace could figure humans were a lot like the sea creatures. Some were nocturnal and some were crepuscular. How it was determined he did not know. Most of the humans Ace had experienced in his young life were drunken slobs who were just as likely to break into tears as they were into a fight. It surprised him to see they were indeed capable of organization and hard work.

The two boys continued on. Getting much better with hearing footsteps and knowing the difference between and approaching human rather than activity on other parts of the ship. As the hours dragged on there was less foot traffic and it became much easier to move about. Most of the rooms they checked looked the same and there was certainly no little mermaid inside. They couldn't risk calling him without attracting the crew either.

"I'm reaching the limit." Ace said with a sigh as he rubbed his sore calves. Walking was harder then he remembered it being. It had taken his this long to get the hang of it again. And he still fell down from time to time. Much to Sabo's delight.

"We still have no clue where Luffy is." Sabo said his voice tense. They had made little to no progress.

"Go back to the cave." Sabo told him. "I'm still good for a few hours. I will keep looking and meet you there when I'm done."

Ace shook his head with a scowl. "We stay together remember."

The blonde sighed. He knew he wasn't going to win with Ace on this one. "Fine what do you want to do then?"

Ace looked around at all the doors. "We find someplace to hide. Change back for a few hours and start again once we can change back. If we have to climb back up and down every few hours we are never going to find him."

"Fine," Sabo agreed. "But we stay close to the railing yea."

Ace agreed. "Whatever you say mom."

 **XXX**

"Luffy?" Thatch called shutting the door behind him and Marco. "Come out buddy."

The two men waited a second expecting to see the little boy emerge wagging his tail like a puppy at the food.

"Come on Luffy! No scary Namur or doctor with us today. Just good old fish and apples. Your favorite."

When Luffy still did not appear Thatch put the basket down, venturing closer to the edge.

"Where are you at little guy?" He threw one of the fish into the pool expecting a hand to snatch it back down. When no hand appeared and the surface remained still he frowned looking at Marco.

"Where do you think he is?"

Marco knelt down inspecting the water thoughtfully. "Probably here, waiting for us to leave."

Thatch frowned, "Why? We were doing so well." He had grown to look forwards to seeing the little fry at meal times.

Marco only shrugged. "It's anyone's guess. Leave some of the food here and we will check back in the mourning.

Thatch nodded as he piled some apples and fish on the side as well as a pretty shell Haruta had given to him for Luffy. According to Namur he would like it. He had accepted the other offerings. Although to do what with nobody was fully sure.

"Goodnight Luffy," Thatch called to the still waters. "See you in the mourning.

At the sound of the click Luffy uncurled himself. His tail had been hurting him too much to make the jump back to his nest. When he tried he had crashed into the rocks scraping up his arm. Until he recovered he was stuck in the big pool. He hugged his tail to his chest laying with his back to the wall as far from the door as he could get. The spot of his tail where his baby scale had been ripped out was tender to the touch. Luffy sniffed in misery wishing for the hundredth time that his brothers were here with him. He didn't like the humans so much anymore.

 **XXX**

 **Poor Luffy :.( I know what I say at the end of chapters is usually wrong so take this lightly but hopefully Luffy will reunite with at least one of his brothers next chapter. until then he is going to steer clear of the humans. I want to post this chapter before work so I don't have time for reviews today but I promise I read and appreciated each one and I will try to get to it next chapter. The same goes for spell checking, which I will do tonight. So good luck with the grammer and spelling as I do apologize. But being honest even if I did have time ti would still be pretty bad. Anywho tell me what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

**XXX**

"What have we here?" The humans voice was overbearing as the barrels were moved aside scraping against the wood as they were dragged away revealing their hiding spot.

Sabo and Ace froze at the sight of the humans. They had spent the night in a broom closet resting their tails before changing back and continuing onwards. But unfortunately as they searched one of the upper decks they were interrupted by the morning group and forced to hide. Apparently not well enough though.

"Little stow aways?" One man asked another.

"How did you guys get way out here?"

Sabo remained silent as he backed further into the wall feeling his heart shutter in his chest.

The third man spoke up apparently catching what the other two had missed.

"They aren't stowaways," he muttered his voice serious. He gestured to one of them. "You had better go get Marco."

While one of the men scampered off to do just that Ace grabbed Sabo's wrist as they pressed themselves against the wall feeling pinned by the stares. Neither knew what to do. Ace still had his knife. But it wouldn't do much good against two fully armed pirates.

"Don't worry lil'fellas," The second man told them confidently. "We ain't going to hurt you." He reached out his hand to try and pull them out of the corner but Ace took it as a threat and in a vicious upward motion drove the sharpened rock into the man's hand. He cursed and fell back from the surprise. The two boys decided to use that second of weakness to flee. They darted past the men sprinting out of the alcove onto the large deck. That had been a mistake.

Although still quite early the deck had begun to wake up. A few early risers were beginning to prepare for the day and the fleet of fishermen were readying their nets. However all of them stopped what they were doing to look at the boys in shock.

Sabo felt like he had just dove into ice water. He couldn't remember the last time this many eyes had been on him. He hated it. Besides him Ace growled in frustration and grabbed his hand, pulling them towards the railing. The pirates however caught on to the boys intended goal and snapped to life.

"Holy shit their going to jump!" The man with the bloody hand yelled as he made a grab for them. They ducked between his legs and kept running.

"Don't do it!" A fisherman called as he joined the chase. "It's too high. You will break your necks."

The two boys ignored them as they continued running, their bare feet pounding on the deck. The gang was closing in on them but they were the closest to the railing.

'Hang on a bit longer Lu,' Sabo thought. He hated the thought that they were abandoning the kid again. But they couldn't do anything about it.

Unbeknownst to the boys another figure arrived on the deck, which relieved the crew.

"Stop them Marco!" One of the chore boys called. "They are going to kill themselves trying to escape."

Using just the tiniest bit of his powers Marco moved to put himself directly between the boys and the railing.

Ace hissed and Sabo froze on the spot feeling cornered. Thankfully the group chasing them stopped as well. Taking cues from the commander.

Marcos watchful eyes had also picked up what the first man had seen. These were not regular boys. They had what looked to be three feint scars on each side of their necks. But Marco didn't need to see that to know who they were. After all they had already met. What he had caught him off guard was the absence of tails. Unlike Luffy they had two very human legs.

His pale eyes flickered to their faces. The black haired boy who had stared him down a few days ago was doing the same now just as fearlessly as he had in the water. In his hand he clutched a bloody looking rock shard and in the other he held the blonds hand. A pair of worn shorts were tied around his waist, resting loosely against over protruding hip bones.

The blonde boy was pressed against his side, ignoring Marco totally in favor of scanning the deck. His stare was calculating, evaluating all their possibilities. Smart little guy. He wore only a shirt that looked a good five sizes too large and kept slipping off scrawny shoulders. The frayed hem trailed all the way down to his thighs showing legs that were matchstick thin and trembling. Although Marco didn't know if it was from fear or the strain of the new found gravity.

It was clear that, much like their little brother, the two were malnourished.

"They won't die by jumping overboard," he explained to the crew before turning to address the boys.

"Luffy's brothers I take it?" Marco said watching the two of them stiffen. They had come after him just like they predicted. Although Marco had never expected them to actually go this far.

"What did you do to him?" The black haired one growled. His voice was slightly quite but didn't tremble. His second attempt was a bit louder. "If you ate him I swear-!"

Marco held up his hands recognizing that this was a stressful situation for them and did his best not to laugh at the notion. Did he really think that they were going to eat Luffy?

"We didn't do anything to him," He assured the two. "He is fine."

"If he was he would have come back by now."

It was the blonde who spoke up this time. His voice clear as well but there was a tremor of emotion underneath.

Marco opened his mouth to respond but paused when he saw a familiar face elbow his way through the crowd. He nodded at Thatch as the man paused at the front of the group that was steadily growing larger by the minute. He trusted the other commander to keep them back should any get over zealous.

"We didn't hurt him." Marco repeated. "But his tail did get cut up on the fishing net. He can't swim in the ocean until it heals."

"We can show you where he is," Thatch said and both boys turned quickly to look at Thatch, sizing up the threat.

"No," the freckled one growled.

"Ace," the blonde one said softly as he turned to stare at him. Obviously wanted to convey something. The pirates didn't get the message but the boy did.

"No!" He repeated again firmly. And after a long second he conceded.

When the group of spectators shoved to close for comfort the boys started into action. They bypassed Marco, Ace pulling the other one as they shot for another strip of railing free of the crowed.

"So those kids are mermaids as well," someone called out but the two commanders were far too preoccupied trying to stop the merfry from jumping over board. If they had really wanted they could have stopped them, grabbed them back from the edge and hauled them away. But that would do nothing for the trust issues so the Whitebeard commanders were forced to let the boys make the choice for themselves. They paused their pursuit just as the two Fry's reached the railing.

The freckled boy, Ace climbed on the railing temporarily letting go of the other one to steady himself. The blond kid, who still had both feet on the ground seemed more hesitant to leave.

Thatch tried a different tactic this time addressing him.

"Luffy really needs you guys." He told him honestly. "We don't know how to help him."

He could see the gears working behind those blue eyes. He was thinking about it. He didn't want to leave Luffy alone here in what he viewed was 'enemy territory'. There was a second when Thatch thought he was going to agree. But Ace once again decided for them.

"No!" His hand found the other boys and the blonde climbed up onto the railing besides his brother. Thatch's heart sank. He hadn't been lying when he said Luffy needed them. They were out of their depth with the little merfry. He could only be cared for properly by a member of his own pod. Anything else was too poor of a substitute. If he continued to go downhill they would have to either resort to more drastic measures or release him back into the ocean and hope for a miracle.

But his thoughts were interrupted when the blonde did something completely unexpected. Just as it seemed like they were going to jump he squeezed his brother's hand before pulling free of his grip. Ace opened his mouth but whatever he was going to ask was cut off when the blonde gave him a hard shove.

The pirates didn't know who was more surprised, them or the other Merfry. But there was no time to sit there and compare reactions as the boy tumbled from the railing falling what looked to be a great distance into the sea below.

Despite Marco's earlier assurance that the fall wouldn't kill him the rest of the crew did not take it to heart. Nearly half the crowd surged forward to the railing, cussing as they did so. No doubt convinced the kids actions had just killed his brother rather then saving him. He was the only one who seemed unconcerned when the other boy failed to surface. Instead he turned to Thatch narrowing his eyes.

"Show me where he is."

 **XXX**

"He hasn't come out since yesterday," Thatch told the little Merfry sadly. Luffy hadn't even eaten the food they offered him. But he didn't tell the boy that. Thatch wished he had better news to report. He wanted to show the kid that his little brother hadn't been mistreated just like he wouldn't be. But instead all he could offer was the news that nobody had seen Luffy in over a day.

It had taken two crew members to stop him from diving into the pool after the third consecutive skipped meal. At the back of Thatch's mind he had a ghostly image of finding Luffy's body a few days later. It was a nerve wracking thing to care for such a tiny and fragile creature and have it disappear on you. Granted the pool was not that large, he knew Luffy had to be in there somewhere.

He glanced behind him at the boy who was looking up and down the hallway in well concealed wonder and fear. He was actively ignoring their words but Thatch suspected he was listening all the same. If these boys were one thing it was smart. After all they had survived all by themselves for years.

"He's in here." Marco told him unlocking the bath house door. He gestured for the kid to go ahead but that was apparently the wrong thing to do.

The boy stiffened, his eyes narrowing at the supposed threat. It was clear he wasn't going to volunteer to go in first. Instead Marco and Thatch ducked into the room waiting patiently for the kid to follow.

And after a few moments he did. Although reluctantly. He trailed behind them at a safe distance looking around the room.

Thatch payed careful attention to his face that flickered with the emotions he wasn't able to conceal. He looked surprised and concerned but there was always that overwhelming suspicion. The blonde Mer trusted the humans a lot less than his little brother had. It made sense for him to be wearier then the little one.

"Maybe you can make him come out," Marco told him as he gestured at the pool.

The boy looked from the men to the pool before sniffing the air cautiously. Thatch was worried he would do the same thing Luffy had that first day and dive strait into the water, never to be seen again. But he didn't.

Rather than that he walked around the pool cautiously, choosing a spot at the edge far enough away from the men. He sat down on the rim, letting his pale skinny legs trail in the water as he sniffed the air again. Thatch got the distinct feeling that these boys were a lot wilder then they gave them credit for. Just because they looked like human children didn't mean they were.

He opened his mouth to ask about Luffy but the blonde haired kid was a step ahead. Touching his tongue to his teeth he made a clicking nose, not unlike the ones Thatch had heard dolphins produce. The effect was immediate.

A click so feint that he may have imagined it sounded from the back of the pool. But Thatch knew he wasn't imagining the rippling of the water as something incredibly fast sped towards the blonde. The flicker of red was the only warning they got before the missing merfry resurfaced for the first time that day. He came up right besides where his brother was sitting and wasted no time in wrapping his arms around the blonde's neck nearly pulling him under with him. The kid managed to catch both of them, retaining his seat at the ledge. He locked his arms around the younger boy pulling him closer as he let out a sigh of relief. His shirt had gotten thoroughly soaked in the process and the bottom trailed in the water but neither seemed to notice.

Luffy flicked his tail back and forth so intently it reminded Thatch of a dog wagging its tail. He let out a happy trilling sound that vaguely imitated the clicks of a dolphin and although neither men spoke fish they knew the kid was extremely happy. The blonde kid looked equally thrilled only he was better at hiding it. He buried his smile into the fluffy black hair.

If they had thought Luffy was cute on his own two little merfry reuniting was twice that.

They stayed like that for a while until the blonde reluctantly pulled away cupping the younger ones cheeks in his hands as he nuzzled his nose in an Eskimo kiss. Letting him know how much he had been missed before he set about trying to find injuries. He ran a hand over Luffy's gills before trailing down to his tail.

Luffy complied, although reluctantly as he let go of his brothers shoulders and pull himself onto the ledge alongside him. His bright red tail mostly out of the water. Only the base fins were still submerged, drawing lazy circles.

Without upkeep the bandages had come undone and instead of protecting the wound they were loosely looped around his tail leaving most of the wound exposed. The kid hissed in concern as he saw it. Even he could recognize the severity of it as he ran a gentle hand around the area.

Luffy was the only one who seemed to be unconcerned as he laid down across the other boy's lap much like Stefan did when he wanted to be pet. His tail flicked once more and the blonde suddenly became very interested in inspecting a bloody scab.

"Should we get a doctor?" Thatch muttered to Marco who shook his head. Both men were all too aware of the two sets of eyes on them as they talked.

"If we do he might disappear again. Just go get the med kit from the lounge."

Thatch complied returning a few moments later. He smiled at the quizzical blue eyes that stared him down from across the room.

"We never caught your name little one," Thatch told him with a smile. The boy just continued to stare at him and for a long second he doubted the boy would respond.

"Why?" he finally said his voice quite.

"Well I know your little brother Luffy, the other one is Ace right? But we never heard your name."

"Sabo."

"Sabo?" Thatch repeated. These were unusual names.

When the kid nodded letting him know he got it right Thatch held up the medical kit showing him the inside.

"Well Sabo do you know how to bandage a wound?" Marco asked as Thatch handed him a roll of gauze.

Sabo shook his head slowly, looking at the gauze like Marco might chuck it at them any second.

"Want us to show you?"

Luffy looked up at his brother and shook his head. "Noo."

Sabo just patted his hair and hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly.

"It will hurt," Luffy argued gripping Sabo's thigh with his fingers to let his brother know he was not happy.

"It's not going to hurt," Marco assured as he made his way over to the two of them. He held the gauze out so Luffy could feel how soft it was.

"It hurt last time!"

"That's because you needed stiches." He told him pointing out the black thread against the red scales. "No needles this time I promise."

Marco settled down a foot away from the two of them handing Sabo the roll. His pale fingers which had been running through Luffy's hair paused for a moment before he reached out to take it. Marco figured out it was best if he let Sabo do it himself even if he wasn't experienced. He assumed the blonde must have at least some medical knowledge. There was no chance that this was Luffy's first time getting injured.

He helped him wrap Luffy's tail carefully. Marco had to tie the fasteners for him as his little fingers were too clumsy to do it right but other than that he had done surprisingly well.

"Good job." He praised as they watched Luffy slide off his brother's lap and back into the water. But he didn't disappear. He stayed next to the blonde picking at the new bandage from time to time.

Sabo once again turned to address them. His face serious as always.

"Can we go back now."

Thatch looked at Marco unsure of how to say this. Luckily enough Marco did.

"You can go where ever you want." He told him seeing the way Luffy's hand tightened on Sabo's knee at that. "But do you think Luffy can manage swimming in the ocean yet?"

Sabo sighed as he shared a look with Luffy. It was clear he didn't expect the humans to keep their word and let them go. But he couldn't argue when Luffy was in no shape to go back outside. With a wound like that a shark would get him before it had time to properly heal. Both the adults and the fry's knew he wouldn't choose the option of abandoning the youngest either. So for the time being he was stuck here.

"Fine," he murmured recognizing defeat. He shifted off the side of the pool to stand in it. The water was shallow at the edge and only came up to his chest. Sabo pressed the shirt down somewhat clumsily.

"But you're not going to get Ace."

Luffy, content that his brother was back in the water with him ducked under the surface with the intention of not coming back up. Although they could see the tugs on Sabo's shirt and the occasional flick of red.

Thatch wanted to tell him that they weren't trying to get any of them but that was a lie. They needed all three of them to be able to move again. Although they were simply trying to help rather than the nefarious purposes the two older boys clearly had in mind.

"Why do you say that?" He finally asked.

But Sabo gave into a particularly hard tug on his shirt and sunk into the water once again leaving the two men alone with the still pool. Although this time when they left it wasn't with heavy hearts. Luffy was going to be okay now.

 **XXX**

 **I know it's been a long time. I am sorry. There are other stories I try to update over this one. But once I finish Dolls I will have more time for it. I am working on some quick/cute sketches to post of the mermaids. It's not finished yet but hopefully by Monday it will be. Any story art I do will go to my deviant art. I wish I could put it here and save you guys a trip but the site sadly does not allow it** **If anyone is curious and wants to check it out the username is vi-va-la-vida. (Once again nothing yet but I'm working on it).**

 **And wow like 90% of the reviews were death threats to Teach. You guys crack me up. I usually get a lot of reviews threatening him from my other stories but last chapter took the cake! Thanks for all the feedback guys! I'm getting the subtle vibe you are not pleased with Teach haha.**

 **XXX**

 **KingCreations: Don't worry Luffy gets some love now. Sabo will look after him. Thank you!**

 **leafpool5: Seriously tho, BB will be back to bother them later. At least Luffy gets back up. Thanks for reviewing.**

 **Wordlet: Haha well said. Don't worry though, Luffy is happy again now. Thanks**

 **yukino76: He is! I think they never thought someone would try something like that. They trust the crew. Thanks for the review.**

 **Buterflypuss:**

 **Luringsirensvoice: Lol, that he is XD**

 **Nala1220:Haha I know I'm sorry. But it's better now. BB will be back to bother them later. For now they are safe.**

 **Guest #2: Yea!**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: All I good time**

 **Guest #3: I will try my best! I really enjoy writing this.**

 **Lunacaster: Aww thank you. It was, you can tell by his dumb laugh.**

 **Guest #4: I CAN AND WILL! Thanks for sticking with me.**

 **PLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ: I WON'T!**

 **Guest #5: And update I shall.**

 **Guest #6: Aww thanks. Your sweet. I'm really glad to hear that. I try my best** **But the ASL crew caught a break (at least Luffy did not so much Ace).**

 **Guest #7: BB will be back to bother them later. But for now they are safe.**

 **Guest #8: Haha of course not. He is like seven. If anyone does it would be the crew. But its not for a while. Aww that's sweet.**

 **abusegabrielsangel23: Thank you. I'm glad you think so. Haha I'm not sure I agree but I will take the compliment!**

 **Guest #9: Aww that's so cute. Don't worry he has back up. Yea that is one way to look at it. Still working on that. Thanks!**

 **Guest #10: It's Sabo!**

 **Futago no Akuma Shimai: Thank you! I'm really glad you like it. Hopefully more cute ASL next time.**

 **Nave: He is though. Thank you!**

 **kagome11: Thank you that's nice. I haven't decided yet. Probably but later on. And no this is strictly fluff no major wars haha.**

 **Bunnyprincess90: They do! Sabo to the rescue**


	6. Chapter 6

When Sabo first woke up he was confused. The dark and cold grotto they had been sleeping in was replaced with a warm and bright room. For a split second he thought they were back home in the Goa reefs but then everything came crashing back to him. The pirate ship, Luffy being kidnapped, climbing aboard.

He looked besides him where his little brother was sleeping. Curled up into his side with his cheek pressed against Sabo's rib cage. His little hand was holding Sabo's own. He was afraid that if he let go the other boy would disappear. Sabo sighed as he settled back to the smooth stone floor willing to lie still for a bit longer. It wasn't like there was much else to do. The two of them were in 'Luffy's nest' which was the small pool at the top of the waterfall that sheltered them from the main current. It was a poor substitute for a real nest but they were used to poor substitutes.

After the men had left Luffy had told him everything from the second he was pulled onto the deck, to the men feeding him and trying to talk to him, the scary fish man who he refused to engage with, and the cruel one who had pulled out one of his baby scales. After that Luffy had lost trust in the humans and stayed curled up here waiting for his brothers to come for him, as he knew they would.

Sabo was glad he had decided to surrender when he did, even if it put them at a disadvantage. If they had missed this chance and waited longer things could have gotten…dangerous. Merfry like them were supposed to stay in their pods at all times. He may not know a lot about his own culture but he knew that much. The little ones who got separated never lasted very long on their own. Although it had come at a price as now Ace was responsible for all of them. And the more Sabo thought about it the more nervous that thought made him. Of all his faults, and there were many, his brothers hot headedness was the one that worried Sabo the most.

Unable to lie still any longer he squeezed Luffy's hand and shook his shoulder.

"Mnnn?" Luffy whined as Sabo sat up.

"What?" He asked sleepily.

"Come on let's get up." He didn't like this place. It was a very odd room. While not an uncomfortable environment it unnerved him slightly. It was too clean and empty and bright. He felt a bit like they were in a fish tank swimming around prettily while the humans watched. They weren't pets they were wild creatures and did not belong here. Neither of them.

"I want to figure out a way out of here."

"There is no way out," Luffy said. "The door thingy won't open for us."

"It's locked Luffy." Sabo said not in the mood to explain the human world to his brother right now.

First step would be to deal with that. He cast a sideways glance at Luffy, more specifically his tail. Never mind that was the first step. They couldn't do anything if Luffy's wound reopened when they got out. Certainly not evade a shark man.

He ran through the possibilities in his mind. They could hide like last time. Try to conceal the smell of blood. That might work. He would have to stay in the cave though. No swimming for the better part of a month. That might keep him safe from the predators that he couldn't outswim. But that also meant Ace and Sabo would have to bring back food for him. While that usually would be no big deal out here it was a death sentence for all of them. Simply put there was no food in these waters. Not for creatures like them. Even before all of this started they were beginning to go hungry. This ship had been a bit of a godsend to feed their stomachs. But trapped out here for months, down a member, unable to stray to another patch of ocean. Yea that was going to be a problem. They would starve before Luffy's tail healed.

So then they leave the area, going slowly. Pulling Luffy along if need be. He was tough and he could handle the pain. Unlike his brother Sabo knew how to handle Luffy. He was eager to prove that he was every bit as strong as his brothers were. If Sabo asked the right way Luffy would swim halfway around the world with his broken tail. Or he would give it one hell of a good try. Until the sea kings got him. And they would because that plan was reckless.

Sabo groaned in frustration. What were they supposed to do? Every single time he found himself thinking that this was it, their luck couldn't possibly get any worse he was proven wrong.

He turned to Luffy who was watching him with his wide dark eyes. He reached over and ruffled the youngers hair affectionately. It hadn't been that long but he had missed him all the same.

"What do we do?"

"I don't know yet," Sabo told him. "But I will figure something out I promise."

Luffy nodded trusting him complicity. He turned his attention to the edge of their little nest. Where the wall was a bit lower to let the cascade of current over the edge and into the pool. He pulled himself over the ledge to dive the fifteen odd feet into the water. Sabo followed him eager for some form of amusement.

"What do you do around here?" He knew his little brother had a hard time sitting still for very long.

"Eat," Luffy told him without missing a beat.

"And after that?"

"Wait to eat again."

Well he had walked into that one.

"It was really boring here," Luffy said. "I want to go back." Not that where they were right now was particularly exciting. But when the waters were warm and food was plentiful the little mermaids would shrug their responsibilities to act like normal kids. They would collect treasures from the sea floor trying to outdo each other, swim with the dolphins until they were all exhausted, or explore the ruins of sunken ships. Sometimes the three of them would play endless children's games. When it was flourishing the ocean was a great place to grow up. But that was when things were good and things hadn't been good in a long time.

"I know," Sabo said. "We will."

"Sabo?" Luffy suddenly said.

"Yea?" He asked as the little merfry moved over to pull his arms over Sabo's neck in a hug. He returned the gesture loosely still surprised.

"Thank you for not leaving me."

"Of course," He told him simply tightening his arms around his little brother. They would never leave him.

 **XXX**

Much like the little mermaids the Whitebeard division commanders had also grouped together to discuss what to do next. After all they could hardly stall the boat forever. But they didn't want to be cruel to the merfry pod.

"Maybe we can move slowly. Just until the next island." Someone pointed out. "It's not like the other one-"

"Ace," Thatch supplied helpfully.

"It's not like Ace isn't already following us."

"The water of that island are a breeding ground for sea kings," Izo spoke up. "We could be forcing him into a nest without ever knowing it."

"So what we just stay here until we run out of food?"

Thatch coughed at that, "We are a long way from running out of food guys. While these waters weren't exactly brimming with life their storerooms were stocked with enough food for months at sea.

Whitebeard, who had been listening to his children arguing put up his hand silencing the group. But rather then weighing in when he spoke he addressed Namur.

"The human legs those two had? That's rather unusual is it not?"

Namur nodded, "Very unusual indeed. I've never seen it before. There were rumors though."

"Rumors?"

"Tall tales or urban legends I guess. On what happens if a mermaid woman mates with a human male."

"They would make a hybrid?" Someone asked.

"Not quite. A merfolk father and human mother is said to make a human. While a mermaid mother and human father makes a mermaid. Species orientation is an x-linked gene so the offspring takes after their mother's kind."

"So the little ones are mermaids then."

Namur nodded. "Just not full blooded ones. The story goes that hybrid humans could take on merfolk qualities for a short while and the hybrid merfolk could gain human qualities." He turned back to Whitebeard.

"This complicates things."

"How so?"

"Well there is a reason none of you have heard of it. Such a mating is tabooed by King Neptune." It was considered one of the largest crimes that could be committed. Even more then donating blood to an outsider.

"So you're saying because their hybrids we can't exactly drop them off with their own kind?" Marco said catching on.

"They will never be accepted by the merfolk," He agreed. "And with the slave trade the way it is we have to be very careful where we leave them. A pod of tropical merfry would make a handful of hunters _very_ rich."

"So what should we do then?"

"We will worry about what to do with them later." Whitebeard said. "They have proved themselves to be capable of surviving on their own. As such I don't believe it is our place to interfere in those creatures lives. That being said it was our nets that injured the little one and that means we are responsible for his recovery and his pods wellbeing." He turned to Marco and Thatch.

"For now you two keep talking to them. Win their trust and they might be more willing to hear us out."

"What if we can't?" Someone called. "Then what do we do, just stay here forever."

"I'm quite sure it won't come to that." Whitebeard assured his children. After all the pod wanted to be together. As long as they had at least one of them then the rest of the group would never be far away.

 **XXX**

Sabo and Luffy were playing when the lock clicked. They were tossing the red ball back and forth with their tails like they used to do with small rocks when they were bored. And they were bored right now.

At the noise both of them froze, the ball falling into the now still water. Luffy swam over to Sabo who was making his way towards the back of the pool as he would in the sea if he sensed a predator coming their way.

"What's happening?" He asked Luffy.

"It's food time."

"Food time?"

He nodded as the sound of the door opening reached them. They could feel the vibrations of the footsteps on the ground surrounding the pool.

"Hey guys!" A familiar voice called out. "Come out we have something for you."

Sabo moved to pull back further but Luffy was already swimming towards the surface, less cautious now that he had his brother to think for him again.

As he brought his head out of the water Thatch greeted him with a big smile.

"So you're coming out for food again are you? Where's your little friend."

Luffy turned to the spot besides him waiting for his brother to surface. When he eventually did it was reluctantly with his head only half out of the water. Still he followed Luffy as they swam to the side of the pool where the delicious smelling basket was.

Thatch dumped a few out on the ledge for them but wasn't surprised when only Luffy grabbed for them. Sabo hung back a ways watching them with distrust. Marco moved from behind Thatch to offer him one of the fish.

"We're not going to hurt you." He told him. "I promise."

Sabo took the offered fish, although reluctantly. He seemed to grasp that they hadn't gone through the trouble of securing them only to poison them.

"Want to talk with us for a bit?" Thatch asked half expecting it when Luffy shook his head no. He never wanted to talk but he always ended up doing it.

"What do you want to talk about?" Sabo asked his tail flicking back and forth just like Luffy's did when he was anxious. Only they could see from here that it was a deep royal blue color.

"Nice tail." Thatch said and the flicking stopped. "What happened to those legs from before?"

Sabo didn't answer, instead he dove ravenously into the fish. Dismembering it as efficiently as his brother did. When he finished the fish seconds later he had the grace to splash some water on his face to rinse off the blood and scales.

"Can you do that too Luffy?" Thatch asked as he laid some more fish down. Watching as both boys retrieved them.

"Do what?" Luffy asked his mouth full.

"Trade your tail for human legs."

Sabo stopped eating for a second to look at Luffy. The little merfry stopped as well. Completely missing his brothers warning look.

"I dunno." He said with a shrug. "I don't think so." At least he had never tried to before.

"Why not?"

Luffy just shrugged again as he turned back to his food. They were both hungry, more like ravenous. Luffy had skipped the last few meals to hide while Sabo had to scrounge for food in the barren ocean outside.

Sabo fixed them with a look of his own, temporarily setting the fish aside for a second to face them.

"What do you want with us?" He demanded bluntly.

"Want with you…" Thatch echoed back confused.

"We don't want anything," Marco assured him.

"Yes you do," Sabo told them. "Why else would we be here?"

"You came here on your own," Marco pointed out. "Luffy was brought here accidently." And they had already established going back would only endanger his life.

Sabo let out a soft sigh of frustration. He was annoyed the pirates still insisted on playing this game of innocence despite taking the youngest and weakest hostage.

"What do you think we want?" Marco said trying a different tactic.

"Money!" Sabo stated flatly.

"I think we have got enough of that." Thatch told him patting Luffy gently on the head as he swam closer silently asking for more. Unlike Sabo the boy had continued to eat but they could tell he was paying attention to the conversation.

"You've seen the size of our ship. The kind of money we could get for you guys wouldn't even cover a month of supplies for all of us." Marco explained to him figuring strait facts were the best way to deal with the logical Sabo.

"Entertainment," Sabo continued. And both men instantly knew what he was talking about. In the darker social circles wealthy people often bought and sold creatures such as mermaids for their own amusement. The Whitebeard pirates were both relieved and sickened that Sabo was aware of just how bad things could get for them if caught by the wrong people.

"We have thousands of brothers and sisters who are constantly causing trouble and excitement," Thatch explained gently. "I think we have all the entertainment we can take." He hoped the kid was done but he wasn't, not by far.

"Some kind of weird messed up medicine."

"Huh?"

"You want to take our tail scales or our blood and grind them into your medicine."

Both men stared at him completely lost. Even Luffy stopped eating to look at Sabo.

"What are you talking about?"

The child waved his hands abstractly, "That stupid myth about being able to use mermaid scales for immortality or whatever."

Luffy backed away from them at that, moving closer to his brother. Not liking the idea of his baby scales being plucked off and ground down.

"It won't work." He told them sternly as he hugged Luffy to his chest. "It's just a dumb rumor. Trust me we can't grant immortality."

Thatch put out his hands. "Slow down no one is trying to take your tails. I can't believe I have to specify this but we do not want to grind up or otherwise separate any of your body parts. We don't want to sell you or hassle you or whatever other idea you come up with." He lowered his voice as he continued hoping some of his words would reach the kids.

"I know your scared Sabo. You don't know the first thing about us or this place. But I promise no one here wants to hurt you guys. At most their curious. It might be asking a lot but try to trust us okay. Everything's going to be okay."

Rather than calm down Sabo's tail began to flick back and forth more intensely, a clear sign the speech had the opposite effect on him. Luffy, while not as concerned as his brother, tilted his head up to watch the blond's reaction.

"I'll trust you when I find out what you want from us." He told them

"We don't want anything from you," Marco told him easily. "There is nothing you have that we want."

"Then why are you helping us?"

"The Captain declared that Luffy's injuries were caused by our nets and that we had a responsibility to try and prevent any further harm as a result of that."

Luffy looked down at the bandages on his tail.

"Sometimes people just want to try and do the right thing," Thatch translated gently. "They don't always need something in return Sabo."

"They do in my world." Sabo told them honestly.

 **XXX**

Whitebeard sat in his usual chair, mid-way between contemplating and sulking. His daughter had taken away his booze hours ago leaving him with nothing but a slight buzzing hangover. He enjoyed watching his children bustling with their nighttime duties. He also enjoyed drinking and he saw no reason he couldn't do both.

Probably for the better he thought. Pained as he was to admit it his children always tried to do what was best for him. Their concern for him warmed his old heart. He was truly grateful for a family such as his.

He tugged at the I.V. in his arm until it slid out from under his skin. That was enough of that he decided. Standing up from his enormous chair he headed to the rail wanting to watch the rest of the light glimmer out on the water. When you were as old as he was life became more about the simple things.

He settled by the rail at the head of the ship watching the ocean light up below him in one last burst of beauty before everything began to dim with the sky. As he stood there a flash of movement on the right caught his attention. He turned to the side, not entirely surprised to catch the eyes of the creature far below.

The third Merfry was watching him carefully. He was half concealed by the water and hiding in the shadows the ship cast. For a long second neither of them moved until Whitebeard brought up his hand in a small wave. The movement was enough to make the little fry dive back under, disappearing in a small splash of water and a flick of colour.

Whitebeard called after him, "Goodnight young Ace."

 **XXX**

 **Thank god it's Summer! Wow it's been a hot second since I updated this hasn't it? Since January. Oops. I will try to get a lot more done on this story now that schools out for me. I always thought this was more of a summer story. Anyways thanks to everyone who is still with me! I meant to update this before I left on vacation with my family but I got lazy and slept instead. Next up I plan to do either TWRR or Defenders (or both) before finally finishing Dolls like I have been promising all year. To everyone still in school best of luck with finals.**

 ***** I promise to post the picture of the three of them as mermaids like I have been promising but until then I made a quick (and crappy) sketch of Sabo in human form on my deviant-art account username vi-va-la-vida. More and better stuff will follow later.**

 **XXX**

 **Seri: Aww I'm glad thank you. I'll do my best.**

 **Smiley-Nami: I will do I promise and thanks!**

 **Aprita: Aw thanks, glad you liked it.**

 **Caraline Fisher: That was what I was going for!**

 **yukino76: Almost together. I'm glad you liked it.**

 **UnicornsThatGamble: I'm glad! Thank you for the support. Sorry it took a second.**

 **kagome11: That is a really good summary of it yea! And yes Sabo is going to protect Luffy from now on. Teach will come in later. There's a bit more trust that needs to build before that.**

 **AnimeAngel2692: Aw thank you. I'm glad you liked it. Sorry next chapter took a while.**

 **Akai-Tsubasa136: :3**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Thanks! I'm glad I was able to surprise you (and probably Ace).**

 **Malavita: Indeed he is not.**

 **Wordlet: Thank you! I was aiming for a cute story. More on Ace next chapter (hopefully). Luffy is in good hands now. I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for the nice review.**

 **Buterflypuss: TY**

 **KingCreations: Haha blond cinnamon roll, yea. Hopefully that's soon. I am not sure exactly when but in a chapter or two they will be together again. Thank you for the kind words!**

 **MelodiofHope: Poor Ace indeed. And I think trust comes later. So does drowning Teach.**

 **Vv: Haha thanks.**

 **Misai-Tan: Yes it really is. More on him next chapter. I'm glad you liked it.**

 **Jisa: Thanks!**

 **Guest: AW THANK YOU! That's so sweet that you care so much about my little-ol-story. Almost back together. Ace will come around in a bit. Thank you for the encouragement!**

 **Guest: Yes! Roger that.**

 **Really love this, hope to see more soon!**

 **An-chan95: Thank you! Cute was what I was going for. Teach does suck I agree. Although you might have to wait a bit for the payback to catch up with him.**

 **Idoray: Merci, mais cela peut prendre un certain temps avant que Teach meure. Pour ce que ça vaut, je le déteste aussi.**

 **lilyoftheval5: Thank you! I like writing it.**

 **Yankey:** **¡Gracias! La ubicación son de desconfianza y que necesita una familia para asegurarse de que. Más en ACE Next capítulo! Gracias por la crítica.**

 **MagicWarriorDragon: He will pay but only in a little while. More of Ace next chapter. I am glad you like it. Thank you for the review!**

 **Kitsune Foxfire: Aw thank you.**

 **F: Deep Blue! Still looks like Luffy's. I will post a picture later this summer like I have been promising.**

 **Lady Syndra: He is also kind of stupid. He didn't even think Luffy could talk let alone that he would tattle on him. He might also not be in character. I never really got a solid grasp on his personality.**

 **Lady Syndra: Yes! Can do.**

 **kittyface27: Thank you!**

 **Tobalerone: Indeed they are. Me too, he deserves so much love for being smart(er) and taking care of the other two.**


	7. Chapter 7

**XXX**

Sabo was waiting for them when they arrived. The pair of legs he had had when they 'caught' him were back. He was wearing the shirt as well, sitting crossed legged at the edge of the pool waiting for them. Luffy was besides him, half out of the water supporting himself on his elbows but when the door swung open he moved from leaning half onto the deck to sliding back into the pool. Staying close to Sabo's elbow as he surveyed the group searching their faces. For once it was Sabo who was less weary of the new comer and he took them in stride.

"Ready to go kid?" Marco asked.

Sabo nodded, straitening his shirt as he stood up. Like the rest of him it was dripping.

Yesterday at dinner time they had offered Sabo a chance to look around the ship, as he and Ace had started to do before they were interrupted. They had no idea how far the children had explored while searching for Luffy. They figured this was a good way to get Sabo to start trusting them.

"Can I come?" Luffy asked wagging his tail. He hadn't really been paying attention to their conversation at the time. He had been too invested in the food but it seems like the idea interested him now.

Thatch shrugged, he saw no reason why Luffy couldn't. But Sabo shook his head, "no."

"Pleease Sabo! I've never seen a pirate ship before. What if it's cool." Thatch all but guaranteed that Luffy would find it extremely cool. But the group knew better then to contradict his older brother turned guardian.

"No Luffy, I can't carry you that far."

Luffy pouted, sinking deeper into the water.

"We can carry him if you want," Rakuyo offered speaking to Sabo this time. He had practically begged Marco to let him see the little mermaids, thinking them amusing.

Luffy straitened a little bit, nervous at the idea but excited for a change of scenery. He looked from the man to Sabo. The blonde boy tilted his head, considering it or at least pretending too.

"No," He decided after a moment. "You'll be safer here."

"No one's going to attack him on the ship," Thatch told him keeping his voice friendly.

Luffy's pout grew as he rested his chin on the ledge of the water dejectedly. "Sabo that's not fair. Why do you get to go have fun on the human ship."

"Because I said so." Sabo told him, their argument taking on a strikingly familiar tone. Despite some initial doubts the lot of them were really just normal kids after all.

"Listen to your brother little one," Izo told him. "He's trying to look out for you."

Luffy frowned as he sunk into the water once more, his reply was mostly bubble and sputtered water that sounded vaguely like acknowledgement.

"Maybe some other time," Thatch told him trying to cheer up the littlest one. To Izo he asked, "are you coming as well?"

"I've already seen the ship thanks," He said dryly. "I was wondering if the little ones wanted some clothes. You must be cold no?"

Sabo looked down at the dripping puddle beneath his feet. "Do I have to?"

"I guess not," He stepped forward to offer a fluffy towel to the other. Sabo took it somewhat hesitantly rubbing it over his hair a few times. Izo thought he would give it back but instead he turned to drop it in the pool behind him. Clearly interpreting it as an offering. What a mermaid wanted with a wet towel was any bodies guess but they had plenty to go around so they left it to him.

"Ready?"

The blonde nodded, turning to Luffy who was watching them still pouting. "Stay." He told him and Luffy sunk a bit deeper into the water clearly disappointed. Poor little guy. Although it was clear fun was the last thing on Sabo's mind. Unlike his younger brother they knew he was only doing this to try and find a way out of the predicament that he viewed as dangerous for them. But as long as he wanted to look around they would let him. Hopefully it would put his mind at ease. With one last warning glance at Luffy Sabo followed them into the hallway.

Thatch started at the bottom of the ship, slowly working his way up. It ended up taking quite a while as the Moby was a massive ship. Most of the ships crew had the grace to ignore them, some did a double take at the halfling-fry and others waved at him. Sabo did his best to ignore them. It was clear that being around so many strangers made him nervouse but he did a good job at hiding it.

"Sabo, can I ask you a question?" Thatch asked as they made their way up the stairs.

Sabo paused for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Well it's fine if you would rather not answer, I'll understand. But I was wondering how you guys ended up here. You are so far away from the type of waters merpeople usually inhabit. You couldn't have lived out here your whole lives, you must have come from somewhere right?"

Sabo looked at him curiously before turning back to the stairs. He was silent for a long moment, so much so Thatch had accepted he wasn't going to answer. But he did.

"The place we grew up was a tropical island with a large reef around it." He told the three of them, apparently deciding this information was safe to share.

"Why did you guys leave?"

The fry frowned, turning his troubled expression to the ground. "Something happened. The nobles started a fire and they dumped the remains into the ocean." It had completly destroyed the reef where the three of them had been living for most of their lives. "We had to leave or risk starving. So we left our home. We have been looking for a new place to live ever since."

"That's awful," Rakuyo sympathized.

Sabo looked at the three of them curiously. "Why do you guys care? It's not your problem."

"Well I don't know what the adults were like where you came from but to us that sounds like a terrible thing to do," Thatch said. "You guys didn't deserve to be driven out of your home like that." He doubted there was much sympathy for the merfry orphans in a place like that, if they had even known they were down there.

"Sabo swimming out here by yourselves is incredibly dangerous." Marco told him, making sure to keep his voice level.

"We don't have a choice."

"You choose to trust us." Thatch told him as he stopped walking. "Sabo we can take you and your brothers somewhere safe. We can drop you off at a protected island with a healthy reef where you three can be happy." He put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Please bud, think of your brothers."

Sabo looked up at him and for a brief moment it looked like he might be actually considering it. But then he shook his head dodging under Thatch's hand.

"Ace will never go for it."

From their brief interaction with the other boy it seemed like he was the unofficial leader of the trio. This was unfortunate as he was also the one who trusted them the least.

"You can convince him though can't you. You and Luffy together." Marco said.

"Luffy is too trusting," Sabo told him. "Ace probably won't listen to him about something like this."

That tracked. The little kid seemed like he was very easily swayed.

"But he will listen to you won't he." Marco said showing an unusual amount of force in his words. More often then not he let things play out without getting involved. But it seems like in this case he couldn't stay out of it as he usually did.

Thatch smiled. Big'ol softy, he wanted to help these little guys just as much as everyone else did.

The kid rubbed his arm unconsciously as his eyes flickered around to the group. The gears turning in his head as he thought it over.

"I can convince him" He said slowly. "But I'm not going too."

Thatch fought the urge to groan. He forced the easy smile to stay on his face despite his frustration. "Why's that bud?"

Sabo didn't need to think about this one. "Cause I don't trust you."

They were half hoping he had started to move on from this. But it seems they were wrong. Sabo had paused after that, clearly waiting to see if one of them was going to lash out at him but when they all stood still he continued.

"It's not that I'm ungrateful. I appreciate that you have been taking care of Luffy."

"But-" Thatch prompted.

"But I know better than this."

"And there's nothing we can do to persuade you to take a leap of faith?"

Sabo picked at them hem of his shirt anxiously. No doubt if he still had his tail it would be flicking like a cats.

"I've been around a lot of adult humans in my life. More then either of my brothers. That fire I told you about, one of the nobles responsible was my father. Him and the entire town, all of them were willing to burn it down to get rid of the poor people that lived there. They killed hundreds of people for no reason. The last time I trusted a human was when my father blackmailed me into coming with him or he would kill Ace and Luffy. Then he double crossed me and tried to get them killed anyways. Then when I ran away from him he destroyed out home as payback." Sabo sighed as he unclenched his fists, trying to let go of some of the anger he still carried for…well what had to be one of the crappiest dads out there. It was no wonder these kids had trust issues.

"Well shit kid," Rakuyo said more to himself then anyone. There was no right answer for that. No way to make Sabo understand that not every person was as rotten as the ones he had grown up with. But that wasn't the type of thing you could just tell someone and have everything instantly fix itself. That wasn't how trauma worked.

"Sabo I'm really sorry that happened," Thatch told him forcing his voice to stay level lest he reveal the anger he was feeling. "You had a really tough go of it. We understand you don't- can't trust us with everything going on and it's okay."

He looked at them in surprise. Patient and sympathetic had clearly not been what he was expecting.

"But I hope you change your mind someday," Thatch told him honestly. The three of them deserved better then that.

 **XXX**

By the time Sabo made it back it was already starting to get late. The tour of the ship had taken a really long time, it being huge and what not. At the very least he had learned a lot, like where the kitchen was, places to hide if need be. He also felt like he might have accidentally bonded with the pirates a little bit which was definitely a mistake. If his past had taught him anything it was that Ace and Luffy were the only people, he could trust. He couldn't fail them again with bad judgement. More importantly he had managed to steal one of the spare keys from the newcomer pirate. If everything went according to plan they would hopefully think it was simply misplaced. At least until it was too late. But Sabo had to be smart about this. He couldn't afford to rush things without a plan. That could get one or all of them killed.

When Thatch unlocked the door for them Luffy was waiting exactly where Sabo had left him. He was lounging on the deck with the tip of his tail trailing in the pool with the rest of his body on his stomach fast asleep, head cushioned on his arms.

One of the pirates behind him 'awed' him. Sabo ignored them as he made his way over to his sleeping little brother shaking his shoulder.

"Hmm," Luffy said sleepily sitting back up. "Yay your back!" He cheered rubbing a sleepy eye with his fist. "Was the ship cool?"

"You would have been bored," Sabo lied. In reality it was amazing, but he felt bad about admitting that.

"Kay," He yawned widley, his eyes falling on the other three. Resting his head on his brothers shoulder he waved at them, smiling when Thatch waved back.

"Hey there little guy, you doing okay."

Luffy nodded still sleepy although he looked content now, his previous anger long gone.

"See you guys tomorrow," Marco told them with a small wave.

"I'll come back to give you guys breakfast tomorrow okay," Thatch said as he followed the other two. They all smiled when Luffy cheered.

After they left and the door was once locked Sabo and Luffy went back down to their 'nest'. The towel the pirate had given him was now laid out in the corner. It felt a little bit like the seaweed bed they used to sleep in, except less slimy. Still it helped to make this strange place feel a little bit more like the ocean they both missed. Sabo had changed back, putting the shirt on the ledge besides them in case he needed it again, and he would, very soon. As annoying as human clothing was it was beginning to grow on him.

The two of them curled up together on the towel like they always did. Except usually there was one more person.

"I miss Ace," Luffy said after a long moment.

Sabo turned his head a bit to look at him. "Yea, I know. I miss him too."And he no doubt missed them. Even if he would never admit it.

"Listen Luffy I have to tell you something?"

"Hm?"

"Tomorrow night I'm going to sneak out of here."

Luffy sat up excitedly. "Really! How."

Sabo showed him the key he had stolen. "With this."

"It goes in the door thingy and makes it open?" Sometimes he forgot how little about the outside world Luffy really knew.

"Yes, and I am going to use it to meet up with Ace."

The response was immediate. "Can I come!" All thoughts of sleep were gone now and Luffy was starting to get excited.

"No, you need to stay here."

"What why! Sabo that's not fair!"

Sabo was a bout to respond when Luffy continued. "Is this because I called you a stupid jerk face? Cause if it is then I guess I'm sorry."

"When did you do that?"

"When you guys were gone Thatch's friend, the short pirate came to feed me for third meal time." He was talking about dinner. "He asked why I was sad, and I complained about you for like an hour."

"Uh-huh," Sabo said. Luffy was complaining about him to humans now, this was a real low point.

"But he told me that you seemed really responsible and that you probably had a good reason for leaving me behind, so I think I'm not mad anymore."

He didn't know how he felt about how the humans kept telling Luffy to listen to him. Helpful as it was… he didn't understand why though. What could they gain from it. Unless Sabo was making the wrong decisions and they didn't want Luffy to question him and him choose something that would ruin the pirates plan for them. Sabo shook his head, he was over thinking this. He didn't know that for certain. Besides even if they did have nefarious plans Sabo was supposedly walking into, soon they would escape and those plans would be ruined.

"No Luffy it's okay. I'm not mad honest. I just need to be really sneaky about this alright. I would have to carry you and I can't do that." Plus Luffy was the least subtle thing he had ever met.

Luffys frown grew larger. "…So I can't see Ace."

"I'm sorry," He felt bad when Luffy's lip trembled a bit. "Don't be sad he is still really mad at you for getting caught so he would probably just yell at you." He tried, hoping to make Luffy feel better.

It didn't work. "Is all of this my fault!" Luffy asked suddenly panicked. "Are we going to die because of me!"

"No, No!" Sabo tried to calm him down. "Were not going to die and none of this is really your fault. Maybe you should have listened to us more but you were hungry. Ace knows that I promise. He just isn't very good at telling you how he feels without yelling. You know how he is." Luffy nodded as he settled back down against Sabo.

"Okay," He said after a long moment. "I'll stay here."

"Thanks Luffy."

"Just don't leave without me."

"I won't I promise. We will break out of here. All of us and we will be free."

 **XXX**

The next night, exactly five days since he and Ace had split up Sabo broke out of the pool room. He waited until long after the noises outside died down and most people went to bed before untangling himself from Luffy's sleeping arms and stole into the hallway, locking the door behind him. Using what he remembered of the ships layout he navigated his way up to the deck.

It took longer then he was expecting and by the time he finally made it onto the main deck Ace had already climbed up the anchor and was waiting impatiently.

The two of them had made this contingency plan the first time they had crawled onto the ship. It was in case one of them was caught they would regroup in five days. If the other failed to show it emant something bad had happened. But thankfully his brother was safe and sound, looking about as angry as he had been when Sabo pushed him. Good to know time hadn't calmed his temper.

"You're an idiot," Ace told him angrily as Sabo crawled behind the barrels with him.

"It was all I could think of," Sabo defended as Ace punched his arm harder then he needed too. "That's for being a stupid, idiot."

"I'm sorry," Sabo said rubbing his arm. "Like I said it was all I could think of to get to Luffy. I thought they might be hurting him." Or worse.

"And-," Ace asked the anger quickly giving way to worry. "He is okay right?"

"He's fine," Sabo said quickly, cutting off Ace's worry before he could spiral. "He wanted to come with me to see you but I didn't let him."

"Why the hell not?" Ace scoffed. "Come on let's go get him. I'll help you carry him."

"It's not that simple."

"Yea idiot it is. We need to get out of here. Before the humans get the chance to do something really awful."

Sabo sighed in frustration, he had not missed Ace's stubborn streak. "No listen, Luffy really is okay but he caught his tail on the shark net remember."

Ace nodded slowly.

"Well it's worse then we thought. The humans are trying to fix him."

Ace snorted, "Why?"

"They say they feel guilty or something. I don't know why they are actually doing it. But either way it doesn't look like they are going to mess with us until his tail fully heals."

"And after that?"

Sabo didn't have the answer.

"Can he swim?" Ace asked breaking the silence.

He nodded. "He can swim, just not very well. I don't think we should risk taking him back out into the waters for at least another week at the earliest. And even then, we have to be super careful. Luffy won't be able to help us catch food or swim away from predators so we will have to watch him really closely."

"Plus no doubt they will send that fish freak after us again so we have to hide for the first few days." Which meant they couldn't hunt.

Ace let out a noise of frustration and Sabo knew exactly how he felt. This was not a good situation to be in. They were suppose to be passing through these waters not learning how to live in them. They weren't made for this kind of environment. They were tropical for gods sake! Their tails stuck out for miles away down here.

"Can you manage?" He asked his brother.

Ace frowned. "I'm fine." He said indignantly. I'm not a pet goldfish to a bunch of pirates."

While that may be true, "we're well fed goldfish," He told him. The pirates had not been shy about sharing their food. They were eating a lot better than they had been and Sabo intended to use that. Shifting to sit on his knees he showed his brother the cloth sac he had fashioned from a torn scrap of the shirt. Stored away was a fair portion of the food Thatch had given him, secretly squirreled away for Ace. The other accepted it gratefully, ripping into it with a ferocity that seemed to make the pirates uncomfortable. But for the three of them it came with being a hunter.

"I'm going to get more," Sabo told him. Whatever he could get the pirates to give them and anything he might be able to poach from their stocks. "If we save up enough it might get us through these waters despite…Luffy."

"So what's the plan then?" Ace asked, looking up from the fish the blood smeared across his mouth in an almost endearing way.

"I'll throw what I can over board. Make sure you keep an eye out alright," He nodded.

"In one week from now the two of us are going to break out of here. It might be our only shot so I don't want to risk carrying Luffy in case we need to make a run for it."

"Is there another option?"

Sabo nodded, looking out past the barrels to the sea beyond. It was inky black this late in the night.

"I'm going to teach him to use his legs."

 **XXX**

 **Hey guys, I know it's been a while. School started up again and I am back to being stressed and miserable. But break is coming up in a month so I will try to update again in December. Anyways thank you for your patience and I hope you liked the chapter! Next chapter will probably be their escape attempt and reunion. A lot of you are wondering what Ace is up to so I can say he was mostly sticking close to the boat waiting to see if Luffy and Sabo were going to escape and jump ship. But when they didn't, he mostly just sulked around and kept a lookout.**

 **-Until next time : )**

 **XXX**

 **YJV: Thank you, hopefully you liked it. (Teach) but I promise he and his stupid plans will come back a bit later. But for now the three are relatively safe.**

 **Madeline Leicht: Thank you! I try haha.**

 **Fallenheart: Hopefully you like it!**

 **Cassie: Yes!**

 **Guest #1: Aw thanks. I am glad you like this so much. I like to think the fluffiness balances defenders dark-y-ness.**

 **Wordlet: Don't worry, the pirates are quickly redeeming themselves to him. For the time being Teach is gone. Yea, Sabo has his own reasons to be mistrustful, but he will get better now that he has met some decent people. More Ace next chapter as well!**

 **yukino76: Thank you!**

 **mao666ku3399: Of course! I promise there will be more Ace next chapter as he reunites with his brothers. Right now he is the angriest of the three at the WB's for separating them so more on that later. Thanks for the review I'll do my best to update quicker.**

 **Sketchtheunicorn: Ok… fair point. I promise I know this idea is incredibly stupid. But it makes me feel better, so I thought 'hey what's the harm.' But venture off into the world, find a better non-stupid fic and read your heart out!**

 **MelodiofHope: Yea… more of his shannangans later. But their safe for a while now. Don't worry Ace will be back next time! I think he responds differently to be alone then Luffy. Of course!**

 **Buterflypuss: Thanks.**

 **An-chan95: Aw that's nice. I'm glad you liked it. That sounds like a fiar summary of them haha. There will be a bit more action in the next one. Not a ton unfortunately but more then before at least. Yea we have loon summers up here. But the semesters are so compact ack! It's not a fun time. Hopefully those went alright and you had a good summer as well! (Wow that is a late summer! I am super sorry that sounds rough.)**

 **Guest #3,0009**

 **Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. I promise I will do my best to update soon. And yes haha kid Luffy is the best.**

 **Final Syai Lunar Generation: Aw, thank you. Yea, he is keeping an eye on the ship now. He has nothing better to do except for sulk. They will be reunited soon! And it will hopefully be cute.**

 **Keep up the awesome work!~~**

 **Mel72000: Of course!**

 **XXX**


	8. Chapter 8

Sabo watched from the edge as his little brother trailed across the pool deck clumsily. Just as his hands were about to slap the wall he tripped on his own feet and fell to the ground, scraping up his already torn knees. He turned to Sabo with a pout and the other boy just shrugged. The process had been a very slow one. Most of the week had been spent showing Luffy how to get his legs. And once he conquered that the struggle became using them. He was still very unused to being bipedal and unlike Sabo and Ace he had no experience walking on land. Making all of this new to him.

"You have to be faster than that," Sabo told him as Luffy pulled himself off the ground determined this time.

"I can do it!" He insisted, his scraped knees and palms said otherwise but Sabo had always admired his brother's persistence.

Sabo flicked his tail back and forth as he pulled himself a bit further out of the pool. As much as he liked to agree with Luffy he was rapidly starting to lose faith in this plan. He hadn't talked to his brother since that night but for the last five days he had been carefully stealing food and throwing it over the railing. But he knew Luffy needed a lot more experience before their escape, unless he wanted to try and outrun the whitebeard crew on their own ship while carrying Luffy. Better not.

"All right new rule little brother, from now on no more swimming for you. Unless the pirates are here you have to be on the deck. If you can't learn how to run by tonight, then your not allowed to sleep in the nest.

"What!" Luffy cried in panic. "Where will I sleep?"

Both of them looked at the floor at the same time and Luffy's worry turned to a pout. "But Sabo it's sooo cold out here."

"Can you handle it?" Sabo asked doubtfully. He didn't feel good about pushing him this hard. But coddling Luffy wouldn't help the situation. Not when everything was dependent on how quickly he could learn how to move.

Luffy looked at the water before wiping his scrapes and nodding. "I can do it!" He said again with much more conviction. "You'll see, I'll be running so quickly by tonight. I'll be even faster than you! And then you'll have to sleep on the deck."

Sabo smiled. It was good to see Luffy was acting a little bit more like himself. The whole encounter with humans had shaken him a little bit. Ever since getting captured and hurt he had been a little more fragile then usual. It was good to have him back.

"Your getting much quicker." He praised him lightly. "Keep practicing all right. And soon the three of us will be together again and free."

Luffy smiled widely at that. "Let's do it!"

 **XXX**

The next morning Thatch was there bright and early, with the doctor in tow, to feed the younglings breakfast. But once again today, like the rest of the week, only Sabo greeted them.

"Where's the little guy?" The doctor asked.

The boy just shrugged as he swam over to the edge in front of Thatch.

"Is he sick!" The man asked in concern. "Is it his tail? I can help with that."

"He's fine," Sabo said simply as Thatch gave him some fish and apples.

"Where is he?"

"He's hiding." He told the man abstractly. The doctor looked concerned, but Thatch had been expecting it. That was what Sabo said every time they had asked. He would be more worried if they didn't occasionally see the red flick of Luffy's tail on some days. He was still all right. But for some reason he just did not feel like coming out. Which was odd as the last time they had seen him things were good between the humans and Merfry's. Whatever was going on Oyaji was right. The three of them were about to make their move.

Thatch handed Sabo the other half of the fish, these wrapped in a scrap of cloth. "Make sure Luffy gets these."

Sabo nodded as he took them. "I will."

And Thatch had no doubt that he would do as he said. The blond Fry wasn't the type to try and steal his injured little brothers' food. No he was far too responsible to do that.

He told Oyaji his suspicions and the man whole heartedly agreed. Soon the three Fry's would be in their care.

"We can't keep all three of them in our bath forever." It wasn't fair to them.

"I might be able to come up with a solution for that," The doctor said. "But only if you let me take a look at them, especially the little one. It's been weeks, I need to see that tail of his. It could be infected."

"Sabo said he is fine."

"They are both children," The doctor said stiffly, annoyed his expert opinion was being ignored. "That type of injury should not be messed around with. If this was a normal case I would have checked in twice already."

"It looks like Luffy is scared of you," Thatch reasoned. "It's hard to make them do anything… not without draining the whole pool."

"If that is what it comes to." The doctor said.

Oyaji interrupted their debate with a booming laugh. "No need my children. They will make their move soon. The pod wants to be together. They won't risk separation for young Ace much longer. He will come to get them."

"What if they get away?"

"We must make sure they don't."

"And how will we do that?"

"We will triple the night patrol. Tell them to watch our own decks as well as the waters. But I do not want violence to be used in catching them. You and Marco have taken a special interest in these younglings, can I trust you two to catch them without harming them when it comes down to it."

Thatch nodded. "Yes sir."

 **XXX**

Seven days after his conversation with Ace Sabo woke Luffy up where he was curled up with the towel in their nest.

"Hmm?" He asked sleepily as Sabo shook him once again.

"Come on Lu, let's get out of here."

"And see Ace," Luffy said, reluctantly sitting up.

"And see Ace," He agreed.

Sabo dried off first while Luffy changed his tail. To his surprise, and great relief, Luffy had managed to teach himself how to run on his new legs. True to his words he had slept in the nest last night, even if he didn't actually get to go to sleep until late into the night. But he turned out to be fast enough that Sabo was proud. Of course he shouldn't be surprised, after all when Luffy set his mind to something no earthly force could deter him.

After he sufficiently dried himself he moved to Luffy, starting with his shaggy hair before helping him with the shirt. Sabo had stolen it on one of his last expeditions into the ship to gather food supplies. Luffy, who had never worn clothes before pulled and tugged on the fabric in annoyance.

"It's so uncomfortable," He complained as Sabo did up the buttons for him. "Why do they do this to themselves."

"They are very strange creatures," Sabo agreed as he straitened the collar around his little brothers' neck so it hid his gills. He doubted anyone would overlook the only children on the ship simply because they were half dressed but he did it regardless. It was a more of an instinct to try and cover what they were from the greedy humans.

"Ready?"

Luffy nodded, determination in his eyes. "I'll be super-fast!"

"Are your legs going to be okay?" Sabo asked kneeling down besides him to try and look at his ankles but Luffy stepped back quickly. "I won't get us caught," He said unusually serious.

"That's not why I am worried," Sabo told him as he reached out only for Luffy to step backwards again.

The process of changing his tail had been a long one for Luffy and Sabo suspected that was because of his still healing injury. Although he still managed it in the end, he had torn all of the stiches and reopened the wound. Sabo had ripped the bandages in two so he could tie both ankles up but he could see the red spots where they had began to bleed through. If swimming was painful in itself, he couldn't imagine that running under the force of gravity felt much better. But Luffy hadn't complained even once. And now with the determined look on his little brothers face Sabo worried that, in his desperation to make this plan work, he had been too hard on Luffy. But now was not the time to second guess himself.

'I will make it up to him,' He thought. 'A thousand times once they got out of here.' He would keep them alive and find a forever home where they could grow up until the three of them matured enough to leave the pod.

But to Luffy he said, "I know you won't. You got much faster, you've done well."

Luffy smiled broadly at the praise.

"Ready?" He asked pulling out the key.

Luffy nodded, the large smile still plastered over his face as Sabo held out his hand.

"Hold my hand so you don't trip okay. If I say to run don't look back. Just make it over the railing and into the ocean. Me and Ace will find you. Got it!"

"Um!" He agreed grabbing Sabo's hand and locking their fingers together. "Let's do it!"

 **XXX**

Marco was woken up by a loud pounding on his door. It was very late indeed but he was a light sleeper. It was a practical skill when you lived the pirate's life. He answered the door quickly, surprising the young man on the other side.

"Sorry, I know it's rather late," The man sputtered uncomfortably.

"Never mind that, what's up?"

"It's… umm well I was told to report to you and the fourth division commander if we see anything… unusual."

Marco was instantly awake now as he stepped forward. "What did you see?"

"Well it's not so much what I saw…" He mumbled almost to quietly for Marco to hear.

"What?"

"It's what I think I saw," He admitted. "But now I am worried I am going crazy."

"What do you think you saw?"

"A ghost."

"A… wait what?" Of all the things he had expected the man to say that was not it. "What do you mean a ghost."

"Like a ghost ghost."

"Are you sure it was a ghost?" Marco asked. As opposed to a small merfry with legs.

"Well I can't be sure really. I've never seen a ghost before. But I was in the watch tower, look'in at the deck like I was told. And, mind you it's dark. But I see this- this white thing just dart out of the shadows and fly across the deck. I don't know if that's what you were looking for or?"

"No that's it," Marco told him. "Good job. Can you go wake Thatch up and send him up to the deck?"

The young man nodded, obviously relieved Marco didn't seem to think he was crazy. "It's not a ghost then?"

"No," Marco assured him. "Just one smart little boy."

 **XXX**

Luffy saw Ace before Ace saw him, and the wind was knocked out of him as the younger practically bulldozed into him.

"Get off!" He hissed as Luffy wrapped his noodle like little arms around him, squeezing the life out of him.

"Ace!Imissedyousomuch!IthoughtIwouldneverseeyouagain!"

"And whose fault is that!" Ace snapped and Sabo sighed. Not that he expected any different, but he had hoped his week of solitude might have softened the oldest a little bit. Apparently not, he was still very much pissed at both of them for getting caught. But Luffy, who was used to his brother's temper, wasn't deterred.

"I'm glad you're okay," Luffy told him in relief.

Ace frowned as his cheeks redden slightly, a sure sign that Luffy's affection was embarrassing him. "Yea, you too I guess." He patted his fluffy hair reassuringly gesturing for Sabo to come over. When he did Ace swung his arm over his shoulder, letting Luffy cling to his side.

"They didn't hurt you guys?" He asked and Sabo shook his head.

"They were nice to us," He told Ace. Surprisingly so. Even as glorified pets they were more or less treated as equals. He had never figured out their true motives. But it didn't matter now.

To Ace he said, "What are you doing here? You were supposed to wait on the deck for us." Not at the entrance to the ladder.

Ace just shrugged noncommittally. "You guys took too long."

"You were Worried!" Sabo said immediately getting shushed by the other when he got to loud. A few beats of silence passed between them before he spoke again.

"Your big softy."

"I was not!" Ace hissed. "I just thought Luffy wouldn't be able to do it and I would have to come help you carry him! You know how useless he is!"

"Hey!" Luffy said from Ace's side. "Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Guys!" Sabo cut them both off before they could get into it right now. "It doesn't matter. The important thing is we are together, and we won't let them separate us again."

Ace's frustration turned into a smile as he nodded.

"Yea!" Luffy cheered.

"Alright, lets get out of here."

 **XXX**

Ace had covered himself in a sheet to make it past the night watch without being seen. Marco found the sheet discarded outside one of the doorways that led below deck. The first thing Thatch had done after being woken up was go straight to the pool to see if their 'captives' were still there. The door was still locked but these little ones were smart. There was no way to be sure they were in the pool without draining it, which they did not have time for.

"Don't bother," Marco had told him. "We should assume they already escaped and are somewhere on the ship."

"It could take forever to search the whole ship," Thatch told him. "They are so tiny; they could hide anywhere."

"It doesn't matter where they are, it only matters where they are going." Marco reminded him. "They are going to try and go over the railing. If I had to guess before the sun rises. And if they can manage it there is no chance of us getting them back."

"We won't let that happen!" Thatch said. They had failed to get Sabo to trust them while they had been staying here and that meant they had to step up their methods a little bit. But it didn't matter, they already were pirates after all. Who cares if they were also kidnapping pirates? So long as they could help save three little kids.

"It won't come to that," Marco agreed.

He could deny it all he liked. Thatch knew Marco had a soft spot for the little fry's the same way everyone else did.

The two of them enlisted the help of the night watch group as well as waking the doctor up. They had promised him a thorough check up of all three of them once caught to make sure they were staying healthy. The man had been bothering Oyaji non-stop about his littlest patient's health.

Even though they had been given permission to enlist anyone who could help, both of them decided that too many pirates on deck would scare the kids and cause another incident like the one before. Besides, the two of them plus the night crew were more then enough people to handle it, even if some of their brothers would be disappointed tomorrow morning at being left out.

So the pirates slowly made their way around the deck, gently moving crates aside and searching barrels.

"So they have been planning this for a week then?" Thatch asked.

"Looks like it?" Marco answered back.

"What I don't get is why did Sabo make Luffy hide during that time? You don't think something is actually wrong with him, do you?"

"I'm sure he's fine," Marco told him. Despite their mistrust he was sure Sabo would have told them if things got really bad. "He might have been worried about Luffy accidently tipping us off to their plan with his behavior."

"Or outright saying it," Thatch said. In the short time he had been taking care of them he could already tell Luffy was terrible at keeping secrets.

"Or that." He agreed.

By the time the three of them were found it was nearly dawn. It seemed as if the kids were tipped off to the pirate's search and had hidden themselves. Although not well enough.

There was a surprised cry from near the bow of the ship followed by a frantic yell. "I found them!"

Marco and Thatch looked at each other before taking off towards the voice.

"Their getting away!" The man cried again in warning to his fellow crew mates.

"Get them!" Cried another.

"Don't _get them_!" Thatch reminded them sharply. "Their just kids. Be careful with them."

"Don't get them!" The man amended kindly. He was too caught up in the chase to remember that their targets were scared little things.

"What happened?" Marco asked as they came upon the bow of the ship.

The man who had cried was winded, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. More pirates were soon to follow the other two, gathering around the bow.

"I moved some boxes- startled them," he told them breathlessly. "Bolted- I tried to follow but- damn- little guys are fast. They booked it like there was no tomorrow."

"Where did they go?" Marco asked.

The man pointed to the lower deck and Marco took off in that direction, most of the watch men following him. Thatch worried they were enjoying this a little too much, it wasn't a came of cat and mouse after all. All though it had been a while since the crew had seen some real action and apparently this was how they preferred to spend their energy.

"Were there three of them?" He asked and the man nodded. "Yea three little ones, just like you said. But are you sure their part fish?"

"Merfry," Thatch corrected him automatically. It wasn't very polite to say that about mer-people.

"Yea, that. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Why do you say that?"

"Well I only saw them for a sec, An' I know what the fishermen said about them. That they just looked like human children. But I didn't believe them. Not until now. But I'll be damned they sure looked human. No scales, no tails. They ran like it too."

"Are you sure?" Thatch asked in surprise. All three of them had legs."

"Like I said, each one looked like a scrappy little human kid. Maybe you guys were wrong about them?" The man said.

"No, their definitely Mer." Thatch told him. They hadn't exactly made the knowledge of the kids being hybrids public news yet. Everyone who had personally met them had the grace not to give in to the gossip and respect their privacy. But enough people had seen Luffy trapped in the net and Sabo and Ace in human form to cause a lot of confusion. But it hardly mattered now. Oyaji would sort it all out once they figured this mess out.

"So what are they then?"

"Scared," Thatch told him.

 **XXX**

The team had stocked up on supplies at the last town they had been at, and the empty crates had been piled against the lower mast to deal with at a later time. And it looked like they had just become the perfect hiding place for the young fugitives. There was just enough space between them for a cat or perhaps three malnourished children to crawl underneath them and hide.

"You three can come out," Marco told them. "We aren't going to hurt you; you have my word." There was no sound from the pile. Not that he expected that to work.

"Can you help me move the boxes?" He asked the men who were gathering around. They agreed all to readily, picking the empty crates up and stacking them on top of each other.

"We solved the mystery of if Luffy is a hybrid," Thatch said as he came onto the scene. "George told me that all three of them have legs. Apparently their fast."

"What's a hybrid?" One of the men asked.

"Pops will tell you later," Thatch told him as he moved to help them.

"Well that's interesting," Marco mused as he helped the man shift the box. Unaware that they were quickly coming upon the chosen hiding spot.

 **XXX**

They scattered like mice the second the box was lifted. The pirate had been right, all three had legs. Although fast as they were it was clear to Marco that Luffy was the slowest. Meaning he was still unused to his legs. And everyone knew it, that was why his hand was clutched tightly in the black-haired boys as they sprinted towards the railing. The pirates split up to grab them, half of them chasing the blond boy who had taken off in another direction and the others going after the two.

The first one to grab them was in for a nasty surprise as the sharp teeth of the blond came down around his hand. The man let go startled and Sabo once again took off across the deck. Undeterred more men closed in on the other two but they were held off by Ace when he let go of Luffy's hand to launch himself at them with an angry cry.

"Go Luffy!" He snapped.

"But-,"

"Luffy run," Sabo screamed at him from across the deck.

The seemed to restart the little one's sense of urgency as he turned away from his fighting brother and sprinted over towards the railing of the ship. When his path was blocked by the group he switched his course to the opposite railing.

Marco and Thatch abstained from the chaos not wanting to add to the little one's stress. Although it seemed to both of them there was an easy fix to stop the chase. Even if neither liked it.

"Do you want me too-?" Thatch began but Marco shook his head.

"No, I can handle it." He knew how fond of them Thatch was. Leaving him where he was Marco quickly made his way to the opposite railing, hopping over the crates with impressive agility just as Ace freed himself from the group, wiggling and punching his way out of their grabbing arms as he dashed over to the railing, every muscle in his body posed to jump over. Similarly, Sabo had reached the railing, far enough away from the pirates that he would be in the ocean before anyone could try to stop him. But he hesitated there, railing gripped in his hands as he watched the carnage around them. Marco knew who he was waiting for.

Luffy had stumbled on his unfamiliar legs, hitting the deck. Although he was quick to scramble back to his feet as he kept running. He was a nimble little guy, dodging the pirates like they were stationary rocks on an unsteady ocean. Impressive as his learning curve was he was still the weakest link and everyone knew it, including him.

Marco intercepted him before he could come close to the railing, grabbing his arm in an iron grip

Ace saw this, and let out an angry noise. He climbed back over the railing furiously coming to his little brother's protection. On the other side of the ship Sabo hadn't moved but he made no indication to jump either, instead he kept his eyes firmly fixed on Marco.

"Hey it's alright," Marco reassured Luffy even as he moved his grip from his wrist to pick him up.

This further enraged his brother who screamed, "Let him go you Bastard!"

"It's Ace right?" Marco said making sure to keep his voice level. "Do you remember me?"

"I don't care who you are," came the angry response. "Put him down or I'll kill you!" Some of the men, approached the kid but Marco waived them off gently.

"I can't do that," He explained patiently. "I need the three of you to come with me."

"No way Human!" Ace snapped. "We do that and we are as good as dead!"

Luffy whined at that, shifting in Marco's hold until the man tightened his grip a bit. Not so much as to hurt the kid but rather keep him there. Still he felt Luffy trembling, like the last time he had picked him up. It seemed like he didn't enjoy the close contact with humans.

His attentional flickered over to the spot where Sabo stood, still clutching the railing, waiting for what happened next.

"What should we do?" One of the pirates asked Marco rather unsurely. They seemed to realize the children had more or less been neutralized and they didn't want to add to the chaos.

"We got it from here thank you," Marco said firmly his gaze never elaving the children in front of him.

"Like hell you do!" Ace growled.

"But," One of the men gestured to where Sabo was, one move away from escaping. Except he wasn't going to do that.

"It's fine," Marco assured them. He nodded to Thatch silently asking the man to deal with the blond and he agreed.

Ace, halfway to Marco froze when he saw Thatch approach his brother. He looked helplessly between them and a low growl ripped out of his throat. "Leave him the hell alone!" He cried as Sabo tensed up at Thatch's approach.

The pirate froze, putting his hands up in placation as Sabo tilted himself away, leaning off the railing and towards the ocean.

"Hey bud," He greeted as if they were simply having another one of their meal time conversations. "Can you come away from the railing for me?" Blue eyes flitted to Ace who shook his head vehemently.

"Why?" He said finally.

"You're a smart boy, you know why," Thatch told him.

"So you can sell us?"

"No! Of course not." Thatch told him horrified. "I thought we were past this bud, we aren't going to hurt you at all."

"But you won't let us go," He pried.

They had been over this as well. And although he was no doctor Thatch didn't even want to think about the harm Luffy had done himself stretching his injured tail into two injured ankles. The doctor was going to have a field day with this one.

Rather then get back into this old argument he held his hand out to the kid. "Sabo it's okay. You have my word we won't hurt your brothers."

"Liars!" Ace snapped.

Sabo chewed his lip, looking over at Ace helplessly. Finally he turned back to Thatch.

"Let him go first."

Both men knew that the second they did that the kids would be gone. But Marco nodded anyways putting Luffy down. The second Luffy's legs touched the floor he tried to bolt back over to Ace. Marco grabbed his shoulder gently but firmly to stop him from escaping which caused Ace to growl warningly again.

Realizing he was both a hostage and a bargaining chip against his brothers Luffy whined, scratching his little fingers against Marcos hold on him. But no matter what he did he was outmatched in strength.

Both men felt the child's helpless whine weigh heavily on their conscience, but his brothers reacted instantly. Sabo pushed away from the railing, avoiding Thatch with a noticeable margin as he headed straight for his brother. Ace did the same only hesitating when Luffy waved them off.

"Go!" He said to his brothers, sniffing a bit as his nose began to run. "You told me to run away no matter what."

"Luffy shut up!" Ace said in irritation. A sharp contrast to his protective actions.

"But you guys can escape and…and be free."

"We're not free if we're not together stupid!" Ace snapped again.

"But."

"Luffy shut up!" It was Sabo this time, imitating his brother. Apparently neither even liked hearing Luffy say it.

Luffy sniffed again, clumsily wiping his nose with his free hand. But Marco didn't lesson his hold despite his mixed feelings about everything going around. Even for self-proclaimed criminals this felt a bit…unfair how things played out for the kids.

Marco tugged his hand, gently at first then firmer when Luffy stayed rooted on the spot.

"Come on," He told him gently. "I know you don't like being picked up."

Luffy looked over at his brother who just nodded. After a moment of internal deliberation, he finally gave in, following Marco across the deck. The other two trailed behind as Marco knew they would, not willing to be parted from each other again. He had gone after Luffy to avoid physically forcing all three of them back into captivity, which was a sure way to get someone hurt.

Ace hesitated briefly at the doorway inside the ship but after a low growl he clenched his fist and bravely followed Luffy. Thatch waited patiently for him to move before following closely behind the two older boys, closing and locking the door behind them, trapping them inside the ship, and in their minds sealing their terrible fate.

 **XXX**

 **I hope everyone is doing alright.**

 **XXX**

 **VampireApple : Thank you! This was so sweet. I am really glad you like it. I know it is kind of stupid, but it makes me happy!**

 **Haha, thank you again. It seemed a bit like they were like that in the anime. Sabo and Luffy never seemed to fight like him and Ace did. I'm glad you think I did a good job! I promise to get into their back story a bit later.**

 **Thank you for the nice review! I hope you are doing well.**

 **too addicted to fiction: Thank you! They will eventually. But the kids are still a little too mistrustful of them to believe they didn't now about that. I'm glad you like it!**

 **haso12123: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!**

 **Phonenix: Thank you! I'm glad to be original haha.**

 **Samster7241: Aw thank you! I'm glad you think so haha.**

 **kagome11: I'm glad you think so! Don't worry Ace is back with his brothers now so he can yell at them in person. I think they were too worried at getting caught, but he would have let both of them have it if they made it back into the ocean.**

 **Right, I'm still so sad about that : (**

 **He does! But he is a quick learner when it comes to athletic stuff! (Definitely not academic haha). And yes he did! Luffy missed his brother.**

 **Thank you for the nice review!**

 **Kitsune Foxfire: Aw thank you! I'm glad you like it!**

 **Mel7200: Of course, thank you!**

 **KingCat48: That's all right! It is my fault for being stupid haha. That is so nice of you thought thank you! I am really glad you like it, that is always good to hear. I will keep doing my best so hopefully the rest of the story is aright as well!**

 **yukino76: True words haha.**

 **Rahhpixy: Of course! And I am glad. I had a lot of fun writing that chapter! As I do all the chapters.**

 **Buterflypuss: Thank you!**

 **Guest 1: Don't worry it had not been abandoned. I just got caught up in some of my other stories. Never say never but I am sure I can handle this one, it won't be that long and I love to write! I am glad you liked it!**

 **MelodiofHope: Thank you! Hopefully this chapter was alright. More on Teach later!**

 **RIAEVANS: I'm glad! I hate assignment submissions (shudder). I had one today as well. Thank you for the nice words! I love to hear that people are enjoying them! It always makes it worth it to me : )**

 **I know Defenders is a little dark. I like the write this one for the same reason haha. It always makes me feel better. But give that one another few chapters and the fluff will start to roll in.**

 **(And AWW, that is so sweet to hear)**

 **XXX**


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